Mistletoe Exposure
by T'Lai
Summary: When mistletoe demands truly love inspired kisses, Marinette and Adrien learn far more about their feelings than they were expecting. Adrinette, Ladrien, MariChat, LadyNoir, It gets messy, but they're all there...
1. Prologue

"Alright then," Louis said as he clapped his hands together, "I think that covers everything. Is there anything anyone wants to add?" He scanned the conference room and Jacqueline tried not to fidget in her seat, hoping no one would speak up. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that they were done 15 minutes earlier than planned. "No? Great! Then we'll meet again in two weeks to discuss progress and see if we need to make any adjustments to the timeline."

Small conversations broke out around her as Jacqueline collected her diagrams and notes into a neat pile and slipped them into her folder. She stood, grabbed her pen and pencil and quickly slipped out of the room.

A small goofy grin snuck onto her face and she quickly suppressed it. Jacqueline had arrived an hour early that day in order to surprise Victor. It was their first Christmas together, so she had decorated his cubicle with mini Christmas trees, garland on his monitors, soft Christmas music, a box of chocolates with a personalized note («Je serais ravi de passer Nöel avec toi! Je t'aime!»), and a sprig of mistletoe attached to the back of his chair: the perfect excuse to stop for a kiss whenever she was passing by.

Since she'd had to spend the morning in a meeting for her current project, Jacqueline hadn't yet had the chance to see how he'd liked his surprise. She considered stopping at her own cubicle to drop off her papers, but she was far too excited to wait any longer, so she turned left and slipped down the aisle between cubicles towards Victor's.

After a quick internal debate about whether she should annouce herself or sneak up on him, Jacqueline settled on the latter. She crouched down slightly as she approached to ensure her head was below the walls, and slowed in order to creep quietly up to his doorway. Grinning to herself, she peeked around the corner to see if he was at his desk and froze, grin slipping from her face as her folder tumbled from her arms.

Victor was in his cubicle, seated in his chair, half turned towards her, and on his lap, arms wrapped around his neck and lips pressed against his, sat Julie. Trapped in disbelieving horror, Jacqueline could do nothing but stare as they continued to kiss, Victor's hand sliding up Julie's thigh and slipping under the hem of her shirt to brush her skin. Julie pulled away, breaking the kiss, and reached around him to the back of his chair with a self-satisfied smirk. When she brought her hand back, Jacqueline could see the small white mistletoe berry held gently between her fingers. "Joyeux Nöel Victor," Julie purred.

"Joyeux Nöel Julie," replied Victor, rubbing his thumbs across the tops of her hips.

Snapped from her immobility, Jacqueline jerked upright and stepped around the corner and into Victor's cubicle, ignoring the crack underfoot as she stepped on her dropped pen. "Joyeux Nöel Julie?" she said. Both sets of eyes snapped towards her, Victor spinning his chair slightly which caused Julie to tumble to the floor where she stayed propped up on her hands, staring at Jacqueline. "Joyeux Nöel Julie?!" she repeated, her voice rising. The quiet office murmur of phone conversations and typing stopped abruptly and heads began to appear above the cubicle walls, but Jacqueline didn't care. "Is this how you say Merry Christmas to everyone?"

Victor continued to stare at her, mouth agape, like a fish out of water. Julie pushed herself back up to her feet and held out her hand to display the innocent white berry. "It was nothing Jacqueline, we were just following mistletoe traditions."

Jacqueline's eyes were blazing as she snapped her eyes over to meet Julie's. Julie couldn't hold her gaze for long and instead dropped her eyes to the floor, hand lowering slightly in the process.

With a single step forward, Jacqueline swung. Julie flinched backwards, but Jacqueline had only aimed for her hand. The berry went flying and Julie half fell against Victor's desk, knocking over one of the small Christmas trees Jacqueline had set up that morning. Victor leapt to his feet to restrain Jacqueline, but a single glare prevented him from so much as touching her.

"Calm down Jacqueline," said Victor, "Really, it was nothing."

"Nothing? Nothing?!" an icy calm fell over her and Jacqueline found herself stepping towards Victor who cowered backwards into his chair again. "I got up early this morning to surprise you. I decorated your office. I bought you your favorite chocolates. We've been dating for eight months! And you think it's nothing to be making out with a another woman?" She reached towards him and he flinched to the side. Jacqueline ignored him, ripping the mistletoe off the back of his chair and shaking it in his face. "I didn't put this here for you to use as an excuse to kiss someone else. Evidently you don't love me as much as you said you did."

Jacqueline spun on her heel and walked out of his cubicle, head high, mistletoe in hand. Silence surrounded her as she walked back to her own cubicle, doing her best to ignore the pitying looks given to her by her coworkers. Once she reached the relative privacy of her own cubicle, she sank down onto the floor and buried her face in her knees, mistletoe clenched so tightly that she could feel the juices from the berries dripping down her fingers as tears spilled down her face.

* * *

A smile filled Hawkmoth's face as he stood in his lair, watching the metal iris open to allow sunlight to pass through his butterfly window. As the sun hit the floor, the swarm of butterflies that surrounded him took off from the ground, hovering, awaiting his commands. "Anger, hurt, betrayal… such a perfect cocktail of emotions for my little akuma…"

Hawkmoth put out his hand and summoned a butterfly. As it landed he covered it with his other hand and called on his magic, focusing it into his hands, preparing the butterfly for its mission and twisting the powers into evil. When he removed his hand, the butterfly had been transformed into the familiar marbled black and purple patterning. With a slight throw, the akuma took off, flying out the small hole in the centre of the window and across the city towards its target.

"Fly away my little akuma and evilize her!" Hawkmoth spun his cane and planted it on the floor, waiting with mounting excitement for his next villan.

* * *

Jacqueline ignored her coworkers who attempted to comfort her. A few had tried to speak to her and someone had kindly collected her papers from the floor and placed them on the corner of her desk, but she just wanted to be left alone.

A slight breeze brushed past her face, and a sudden burst of power shooting up from her right hand brought her head up with a snap. A purple glow appeared in her peripheral vision, framing anything on which she focused.

 _You have been wronged and betrayed,_ came the quiet, yet insistent voice in her mind. _And you are not the first or the last to suffer unfairly from the tradition of mistletoe._ Jacqueline felt her tears dry and a dark hope fill her mind. _Exposure, I give you the power to reveal true motivations and to punish those who would abuse a tradition for their own selfish desires. In return, you will bring me the Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculouses._

Jacqueline rose to her feet, tucking the mistletoe into her belt. "They'll wish they never heard of holiday traditions," she said as an evil smile spread across her face. The black and purple magic spread from her hand, bubbling across her entire body and filling her vision as the purple glow faded away.


	2. First Kiss

_Buzz!_

"Ahh!" Marinette sat bolt upright, flailing her arms. When the noise repeated, she recognized the sound of her phone ringing and quickly reached over to snatch it up, "Alya?"

"Girl! Where are you?" said Alya, "I need you here ASAP!"

"What?" Marinette checked her clock, "Alya, school doesn't start for another 20 minutes! I'm not late yet."

Alya's familiar laugh rang through the phone, "Are you not awake yet girl? I didn't say you were late, I said I need you here. Hurry up!"

Blinking the last of the sleep from her eyes, Marinette finally registered what Alya had said. "Sorry! What do you need? I'm on my way."

"Good. See you soon."

Marinette brought her phone down from her ear and stared at it for a moment, "She never said what she needed."

A red blur zipped around her until Tikki stopped in front of her, hovering just above the phone, "Then maybe you should get going and find out Marinette."

"Right!"

Tossing her blankets aside, Marinette scooted across her bed and down her ladder. She quickly changed, tossing her pyjamas onto her chaise and retying her pigtails to smooth them out. A quick glance in her mirror reassured her that she hadn't missed any strands and she scooped up her bag, slung her purse over her shoulder and pulled open her trap door. She was halfway down before she realized she'd forgotten mitts and a scarf. She hurried back up to grab a set that she'd just finished knitting for herself the week before and went back down, detouring through the kitchen to grab a danish for breakfast before slipping down to the bakery to get a couple of cookies for Tikki.

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad! Love you!" she called out as she ran for the front door, dodging early morning customers.

"Bye Sweetie! Have a good day!" called Sabine. Tom was in the middle of helping a customer, so he gave her a quick smile and a wave over the customer's head as she slipped out the door into a swirl of snow.

A few moments later, she pulled up in front of the school, her breath forming white clouds in the winter air. Alya was standing by the school steps waiting for her. "Good, you made it."

"Made it for what?" Marinette asked.

Alya looked around them to make sure no one was listening before leaning in close, "I need you to distract Adrien so I can get Nino to go through the doors with me."

Marinette blinked. After a few seconds her brow creased, "What?"

Alya rolled her eyes and tsked. She stepped around Marinette and took her by the shoulders, turning her to face the main doors. It took a few moments before Marinette understood what her friend was trying to show her. Centered above the doors hung a sprig of mistletoe. She half turned back to meet Alya's eyes, "Really? Since when have you needed an excuse to kiss Nino?"

Releasing Marinette, Alya tapped one finger on her chin. "Hm… You're right." A mischievous smirk spread across her face, "I don't need an excuse to kiss Nino. You and Adrien, on the other hand, _do_."

"Wha–"

Marinette suddenly found herself being pulled along by Alya until they reached Nino, who was just greeting Adrien as he got out of his car. She noticed with a slight blush that he was wearing the scarf she'd knitted him for his last birthday. _Stop it Marinette,_ she scolded herself, _He doesn't even know it's from you._ Equilibrium temporarily restored, she refocused on her friends just in time to see Alya loop her arm through Nino's and pull him up the stairs. With a wink, Alya bumped hips with Marinette, sending her a few steps closer to Adrien.

"Good morning Marinette," said Adrien with a bright smile.

"Good morning Adrien," she replied, trying to slow her heart rate. It didn't help that as they naturally fell into step together while ascending the stairs her eyes landed on the mistletoe again.

 _It's fine. Just pretend it isn't there. It's just a silly tradition, it doesn't have to be weird._ But it would be nice to have an excuse to kiss him… whispered a small voice in the back of her head. She shook her head, _I've kissed him before, if he notices then I'll just give him la bise like last time and we'll keep going. He probably won't notice though._ She tried desperately to ignore the mistletoe, but her eyes kept being drawn back upwards.

"What are you looking at?" asked Adrien. She snapped her eyes down to meet his eyes, a blush flaring across her face. She was thankful that the cold and her scarf would help disguise it. Before she could answer, his eyes had followed where she'd been looking and found the mistletoe. "Oh. It's just some mistletoe." He smiled at her kindly, "Come on."

Feeling stunned and confused, Marinette kept pace with him until they reached the doorway and he stopped. She contemplated just walking straight through, but something seemed to trap her feet in place and she found herself turning to face him instead. His eyes were kind and inviting and she swallowed hard. _Nope, it's nothing. Time to get to class._ Marinette tried to take a half step back when a sudden chill passed through her and she shivered briefly but violently. Adrien's brow creased and he stepped right up to her, taking her hands in his, "Are you alright?"

Mouth dry, Marinette nodded, "Just c-c-cold." Her teeth chattered.

Adrien released her hands, "Let's get you warmed up and inside then." His arm slipped around her waist, but their feet didn't move.

Marinette gazed up into his warm green eyes and everything, including the cold, seemed to slowly fade away around her. It wasn't until his nose brushed past hers that she realized they'd been getting closer. _He's going to kiss me!_ And then he was.

Her eyes slid closed immediately and she wrapped her arms around him even as his tightened around her. Her shivers stilled and she felt a strange yet wonderful warmth in her chest as she kissed him back. How long they stayed that way she didn't know, but all traces of cold were gone. They could have kissed for seconds or hours for all she noticed. It wasn't until a strangled screech sounded nearby that they pulled apart, both turning towards it instinctively.

They were met by the sight of many of their classmates watching them avidly. Kim wolf-whistled and Alix cheered, but their attention was drawn to the two pairs of eyes that were narrowed at them, one set angry blue, the other set green and calculating.

"Adrien I thought we were going to spend some time together today," said Lila, "You did offer to help me get caught up on what I missed while I was travelling right?"

Instantly, the blue eyes snapped over to glare at Lila, blond ponytail swinging, "Like he has time for you!" spat Chloe, "He's not stupid, he knows exactly what you're trying to do!"

As Lila turned towards Chloe to answer, Adrien leaned in close to Marinette and his breath tickled her ear. She felt another shiver slip down her spine, but this one wasn't from the cold. "Let's take advantage of the opportunity to get to class, shall we?" He offered his hand, and without stopping to think, she accepted. They quickly disappeared into the school and up the courtyard stairs to their chemistry class with Ms. Mendeleiev, leaving the arguing pair behind them.

When they reached their classroom and approached their desks, Marinette became far more aware of the fact that she was still holding Adrien Agreste's hand. Unsure what to do ( _Do I let go? Would that seem like I didn't want to hold his hand? But I can't keep holding his hand forever! Or can I?_ ), Marinette hesitated. Adrien smiled and gave her hand a quick squeeze before letting go. Despite already missing the presence of his hand in hers, the warm feeling that had filled her when they kissed continued to linger. She returned his smile and tried to step up to her desk, only to miss the step entirely and start falling forward instead. Fortunately for her, Alya had been watching and quickly slid over to catch her and help her back up.

Face flaming, she straightened to meet Adrien's concerned look and laughed nervously while waving one hand erratically, "I'm fine!" His answering smile turned her legs to jelly and Alya had to help her to her seat before she collapsed.

Alya laughed quietly and gave her shoulders a squeeze, "Wasn't that a great excuse?" she said with a gentle elbow nudge.

"Alya…" Marinette whined.

"Oh come on girl! I saw you two! Don't try to tell me you didn't enjoy that."

Marinette hadn't realized it was possible, but she felt her face redden even further, "Alya!"

Alya just laughed.

* * *

"Dude!" hissed Nino, "What was that?"

Adrien feigned confusion, "What was what?" Judging by the flat look Nino gave him, he was fooling no one. "There was mistletoe," he hedged.

Nino tipped his head forward, giving the impression of looking down on Adrien. "Really dude? You're going with 'there was mistletoe'?"

"Well there was," said Adrien, trying hard to focus on setting up his tablet for class.

Nino shook his head, "Pretty sure you just gave Marinette a better mistletoe kiss that I gave my girlfriend."

Blood rushed to his face and Adrien rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. Now that the warm and comfortable feeling of everything being _right_ while he kissed Marinette was fading, he was struggling not to panic. Kissing her had been incredible. It had felt exactly the way he'd always imagined he would feel if he ever got to kiss Ladybug. _What am I doing? Marinette is an incredible friend. What if I've ruined that?_ He gave his head a nearly imperceptible shake. _Besides, I'm in love with Ladybug._ Nino was still watching him, but Adrien was trying hard to pretend he didn't notice.

With a final shake of his head, Nino turned to the front of the class where Mme. Mendeleiev was calling for their attention. Adrien couldn't quite resist glancing back over his shoulder and meeting Marinette's eye. She blushed a beautiful light pink and for a moment the warm feeling of _rightness_ washed over him again. With a small smile he firmly squashed his inner turmoil and confusion in order to focus on his teacher and her continuation of their discussion on the structure of atoms.

* * *

"I expect you to review pages 112-116 at home tonight and complete the electron orbit worksheet I handed out. It's due next class," said Mme. Mendeleieve as the bell rang to signal the end of class.

As Adrien packed his bag he became aware of a presence at his shoulder and looked up to see Lila smiling down at him. "Hey Adrien, can you still help me catch up like you offered?" Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he stood and began to walk towards the exit with her. "I missed the introduction to electron orbits with the different layers and orbit patterns and I can't make heads or tails of it. I was hoping we could sit together at lunch and– oh!" Lila came to abrupt halt in the doorway, pointing above their heads, "Looks like there's some more mistletoe!"

A brief frown crossed Adrien's face, though he wiped it off so quickly that no one noticed. Lila's careful attention to the mistletoe told him she had seen it long before they reached the door. Most likely, she had been talking to him not for the sake of getting help with her school work, but instead to ensure that they would pass through the doorway together. He sighed inwardly.

Lila's eyes closed and she started to lean towards him. Adrien pulled back, noting that she had grabbed his wrist and was attempting to pull him down towards her. Resigned, he bent down and gave her la bise. "I can't today, maybe tomorrow at lunch if Father says it's alright?" Her surprise at his response caused her to loosen her grip just enough that he could gently slip his wrist out of her hand. He offered her a smile, "I'll let you know what he says this afternoon."

As he walked away, Adrien glanced back at Lila in time to see her shiver and Nathaniel offer her his jacket. Adrien shook his head to himself and resumed walking down the hall towards their literature class with Mme. Bustier.

* * *

 _Exposure!_ Hawkmoth's voice was unmistakably irritated, _How do you expect to deliver me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses when they don't even know you exist?_

A sly smile filled Exposure's face. "Oh don't worry Hawkmoth, I'll be exposing their secrets soon enough."


	3. Too Many Fans

_Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!_ Chloe scowled at her tablet and whatever pointless story she was supposed to be reading. First Marinette had the audacity to kiss her Adrien, then Lila had to try and sink her claws into him! _At least she got what she deserved! Until like that stupid Mari-tra– Marinette._ She corrected herself. After seeing the look on Adrien's face when he'd once overheard her use that nickname Chloe had decided it wasn't worth repeating. Old habits were hard to break though. Especially when the girl in question had been kissing _her_ boy!

Chloe looked up to check the clock above the door, wondering how much longer she was going to have to sit there, pretending she cared, when a leafy green, white berried plant caught her eye. Her scowl faded into a smirk. _My turn!_ She thought.

The remainder of the class was spent watching the seconds slowly count down while planning her perfect encounter under the mistletoe with Adrien. Together, they would put his kiss with Marinette to shame!

When the bell rang, Chloe abandoned her things on her desk, trusting that Sabrina would take care of them. She quickly skipped across the aisle and looped her arm through Adrien's, pulling him up from his seat and towards the door. He was just barely able to sling his bag over his shoulder while stuffing his tablet inside as she pulled him along. "Adrikins! Would you be a gentleman and escort me to lunch?" she batted her eyes up at him, carefully slowing them down until they came to a stop in the doorway and waiting expectantly.

"Chloe…" Adrien glanced up towards the mistletoe hanging above them, then gently disentangled their arms, though she did manage to snag his hand again. _Here it comes!_ She thought. He sighed, "I really should have told you before, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings. You've always been a good friend to me, but I just don't see you that way. I'm sorry." He leaned down to give her a bise on each cheek, then pulled his hand away and started to walk down the hallway.

Chloe was frozen in shock, staring after him. _That can't be right! He must… he must just take me for granted because I've always been here!_ Her mind raced, trying to come up with a backup plan when she remembered the surge of jealousy she'd felt seeing him kiss Marinette. _That's it!_ "Adrien!" she called. As soon as she saw him start to turn back towards her, she turned just enough to see and grab the nearest boy. Nathaniel stumbled to a stop in front of her and she stepped up close enough to hiss in his ear, "Play along or I'll rip up that precious art book of yours!"

Nathaniel stiffened but, to her relief, didn't try to pull away. Chloe pulled back just enough to plant her lips on his. _Ew!_ She stifled the urge to pull away and wipe her mouth. _It's worth it, it's worth it, it's worth it…_ After what she hoped was long enough, Chloe pulled back and gave him a poisonously sweet smile, "Oh Nathaniel! You know my heart belongs to Adr–" she came to an abrupt stop as she turned her head away from the redhead to search for a familiar, perfectly coifed blond with beautiful green eyes seething with jealousy. Instead, though there were many people staring at her and whispering, Adrien was nowhere to be seen.

The sensation of something flicking her arm had Chloe spinning back to glare at Nathaniel, "Don't go getting any ideas art boy! I'm not interested!" She spun away, her ponytail whipping across his face, and marched down the hallway.

"Hey!" yelled the nosy, wanna-be reported, "You can't just kiss someone against their will and walk away!"

Chloe turned her head back just enough to be sure her voice would carry to them, "There was mistletoe. And _he_ didn't stop me, so why are _you_ complaining?" A shiver passed through her and she rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm them up.

"Are you okay Nath?" Chloe clenched her fists at Marinette's question, but kept walking.

"I'm fine, let's just go." His response was so quiet that she'd had to strain to hear it, but Chloe smiled grimly to herself as Sabrina came hurrying up beside her with her things. _Good. At least I don't have to waste my time destroying his book now._

* * *

Marinette was seething to herself as she walked home for lunch. She slipped a croissant from the tray her father was carrying and he smiled at her indulgently. She tried to smile back, but she knew it was forced. Upstairs, she sat at the kitchen counter and started ripped off little bits of the croissant and eating them.

"I can't believe those two Tikki! Trying to trap Adrien under the mistletoe to make him kiss them! And _then!_ Poor Nathaniel! He was quivering when he went for lunch! I wouldn't be surprised if he goes home for the rest of the day. I'd take off sick if she'd kissed me like that!"

Tikki giggled, "I think you're safe from that Marinette."

Marinette glared at Tikki, "It's not funny Tikki! Mistletoe is not an excuse to kiss someone without their permission!"

Tikki's face became very serious, "No, of course not. What Chloe did to Nathaniel isn't funny or okay." A small smile twitched back onto one corner of her mouth, "But imagining your reaction if she'd tried to do it to you sure is."

Marinette tried to hold onto her anger, but she couldn't do it. She dissolved into laughter with her kwami, and let her head fall forwards onto her arms which were crossed on the counter, "I think I would hit her for that one."

"Hit who?" asked Tom. Marinette bolted upright, but Tikki was thankfully nowhere to be seen. Tom frowned as his eyes fell on the counter in front of her, "I wouldn't have let you pilfer that if I'd realized what you were going to do to it."

Confused, Marinette looked down. Apparently, at some point during her rant, she'd switched from ripping the croissant into pieces to squashing it into a pancake. She flushed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry Papa. I was mad and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing." She mournfully ripped off another piece and popped it in her mouth. I didn't taste as good since she'd flattened it, the light and flaky texture ruined.

Tom dropped another, undamaged croissant beside the sad remains of her first one, "Be nicer to this one okay sweetie?"

"Thank you Papa!" Marinette happily scooped it up and took a bite while Tom watched with an amused smile.

"So, you didn't answer my question." Marinette looked up at him and blinked. "Who are you planning to hit? And why?"

"Oh." Marinette blushed. "I'm not really _planning_ to hit anyone…" When Tom merely raised an eyebrow at her, she sighed and gave in, "Um, well… Chloe. She kissed Nath after Adrien turned her down and excused it because there was mistletoe. I was thinking about what I'd have done if she'd grabbed me instead."

Tom nodded sagely, "Well you know we don't condone violence, but I think I could make an exception for that."

Marinette almost choked on her croissant as she burst into laughter. After a brief coughing fit and a few firm pats on the back from Tom, she recovered and sat up again. "Thanks Papa, I should probably head back to school."

Tom gave her a quick sideways hug, "Okay sweetie. Maybe try to stay away from the mistletoe if you're worried about unwanted advances." He winked, "Unless that Adrien boy is around…"

Mind immediately flashing back to their kiss that morning, Marinette's face rivalled a tomato, "Papa!"

Tom put his hands up in surrender, "It's just a suggestion."

Marinette spluttered as he disappeared back down the stairs to the bakery, but was unable to articulate anything coherant. Tikki reappeared at her side, smiling and suppressing her own giggles. "Well he does have a point…"

Thoroughly flustered, Marinette gave up. She popped the rest of her croissant into her mouth and ran down the steps back towards school.

* * *

"Do you think it's true?"

"Are you willing to miss your chance because you think it's not? I'm not!"

"Well I'm going to wait by the library, he always goes there to study."

"Yeah, but he's got to go to his locker first, so I'll be at the locker room door."

"Too bad you'll both be disappointed then! I've got the main door and after you see our kiss you'll know you don't have a chance!"

Marinette scowled as she realized what the group of girls was talking about. _Not again!_ She thought. _I wonder who their target is. Maybe I can warn him…?_ She slowed her steps and dodged around the edge of the main stairs so she could listen as the girls continued to argue about who would have the best kiss with their chosen boy.

One snorted, "You'll be lucky to get a bise. We were obviously meant to be!"

"And I'm the queen of Paris!" Laughter rang among them.

"Isn't he dreamy?" sighed one. The others quickly agreed. "Look at this!"

There was rustling of pages and Marinette stretched up on her tiptoes to try and see. A brunette was blocking her view and she growled softly to herself, willing the girl to move. When she finally did, Marinette felt like she'd been punched in the gut: it was a picture of Adrien.

She turned and sank to the ground, ignoring the cold seeping through her pants. "Tikki! I have to warn him!"

"But how Marinette?" The kwami hovered anxiously, "He's going to be here any moment and those girls will be all over him as soon as he steps out of his car!"

"You're right Tikki, Marinette can't help him in time, but Ladybug can!" Marinette sprang to her feet, "Tikki! Spots on!"

* * *

Adrien was sitting in the back of his car, halfway dreading returning to school. He closed his eyes and sighed, "I hope I didn't hurt Chloe's feelings."

"Who cares?" said Plagg, "She's annoying anyways."

"Plagg! She's my friend!"

"And no one knows why…" grumbled Plagg under his breath.

Adrien glared at him, but Plagg ignored it.

A sudden thud on the top of his car made Adrien sit up so fast he felt a slight twinge in his neck. Rubbing it, he leaned over and peered out the window. When Ladybug's upside down face appeared, he jumped backwards before quickly reaching out to raise the privacy screen and lower his window. "Ladybug! What are you doing here?"

Ladybug slid gracefully through the window and onto the seat beside him. "I overheard some of your fans talking about how they were going to try and trap you under the mistletoe at school and get a kiss. I figured you might not be interested so I came to offer you an alternative route to class."

Adrien had to stifle a groan. _More of them?_ "Yes please."

"Great." Ladybug leaned over to check their location through the window, "Think you can convince your bodyguard to let you off at the back of the school? I can give you the express ride in."

For a moment, Adrien was too busy thinking about how nice it would be if Ladybug was the one that wanted to catch him under the mistletoe. He'd be there faster that someone could say 'Puns are clawsome!' He came back to himself abruptly when he saw a red glove with black spots waving in front of his face and Ladybug looking at him with concern. "Oh! Uh… yeah. I should be able to do that."

"Perfect." Ladybug slid back to the open window and boosted herself halfway out, tossing a quick "See you shortly!" over her shoulder as she slipped back onto the roof of the car. With a blur of red and black, she swung past his window and was gone. It wasn't until he started shivering that Adrien remembered to close the window behind her.

A quick, one-sided conversation later ( _Is it really a conversation if only person speaks? Or more of a monologue?_ he wondered absently), the car was turning down a different route and Adrien was climbing out on an empty street looking up at the back of the school.

A soft whir announced Ladybug's arrival as she dropped down next to him. "Going up?"

Adrien smiled and stepped close enough to wrap his arms around her. His heart was racing and he sincerely hoped that Ladybug didn't have the same heightened senses as he did as Chat Noir. _That_ would be embarrassing. He couldn't tell whether or not she did as she calmly slipped her own arm around his waist, then gave her yoyo a tug to start their ascent. Once they were safely on the roof, she released him and he reluctantly followed suit. "What now?" he asked.

"Well," she said as she leaned over to look into the courtyard, "That depends. I can drop you in now and attract the attention of your entire school, or you can be a few minutes late for class and we can be a bit more discreet." She flashed him a grin and his heart stuttered in response.

"Uh… late is fine." Adrien fidgeted as Ladybug continued to watch the students below them. "So… how are you doing?" She turned and gave him an odd look and he quickly amended, "You know, with the akumas and Hawkmoth and everything."

He felt himself redden under her gaze, before she returned to scanning the courtyard. "Well enough. It was kind of disappointing that we weren't able to catch him a couple of months ago when he tried to take us out with simultaneous akumas," she shrugged, "But we're working on it."

 _Idiot!_ Adrien berated himself, _Like you didn't already know that! At least she doesn't know I knew that. Hopefully it'll stay that way…_ He opened his mouth, though he wasn't quite sure what else to say, "Well, um…"

Suddenly, Ladybug whacked herself on the forehead. "Stupid! You don't have to be late! Come on!"

Confused but trusting, Adrien followed her across the roof until they reached the roof access door. To his surprise, it opened immediately at her touch. "Don't they lock that?"

Ladybug shrugged, "Not that I've noticed." She suddenly blushed and wouldn't meet his eyes, "Er… not that I've had much reason to try. There was an akuma here last year and it was unlocked then, so I figured maybe it would be again?"

Her laugh sounded forced, but he dismissed it as he tried to find an excuse to entend their time together. Coming up empty, he approached the door she was still holding open for him. "Thank you for saving me Ladybug," he gave her his best smile, "Even if it wasn't from an akuma."

The red hadn't faded from her cheeks as she met his eyes, "My pleasure."

A sudden overwhelming urge to pull her close and kiss her flooded his body and Adrien found himself stepping closer. _No! You already screwed up by giving into that wish with Marinette!_ He felt his cheeks heating. _At least you have a chance of resolving things with her! Ladybug would probably never talk to me again!_ He managed to stop himself, but he stumbled slightly.

Slender arms were immediately wrapped around him, steadying him and Adrien couldn't look away from her beautiful eyes. _I was wrong. They're even more intense than bluebells. Columbine? No… Bluestars? No… Delphiniums! That's perfect!_ Something soft brushing against his lips pulled him from his reverie and Adrien stiffened as he realized that _Ladybug was kissing him!_ Disbelieving, but unwilling to waste a second, he immediately wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. They moved together, as though this wasn't the first time they had kissed, and Adrien revelled in the perfection of the moment. Warmth filled him, pushing back the cold and making him hope this would never end. One hand trailed up her back to tangle in her hair. _Raven black hair kept in two adorable pigtails, just like Marinette…_

Guilt, shame, and confusion swelled up and he froze before pulling away. _What is wrong with me?!_ Adrien stepped back out of Ladybug's arms, but he couldn't bring himself to look up and meet the eyes over which he'd been mentally rhapsodizing just moments before. "I'm sorry, I… uh…" _Think!_

"Mistletoe," she breathed. Adrien looked up. Sure enough, there was yet another sprig of mistletoe in the doorway. Ladybug wasn't looking at him at all. Her arms were still partially outstretched towards him, but she held them as though she'd forgotten they were there. Straightening and turning back towards the open roof, Ladybug finally let her arms fall. "I really am being stupid today. No one puts mistletoe everywhere. Especially not doors that no one uses!" Adrien stared at her in confusion, mouth still slightly agape, but she didn't seem to be talking to him. "And that means one thing:" Her eyes narrowed, "Hawkmoth."

Yoyo in hand, her arm brought back, Adrien just managed to bring himself to reach out and put a hand on her shoulder before she could disappear again, "Wait! What do you mean Hawkmoth?"

She tilted her head to look at him with a confident smile, "Don't worry, there may be an akuma on the loose with a strange fascination with mistletoe right now, but Chat and I will sort it out and you'll be safe to go about your day like normal soon enough. Bug out!" Her yoyo flew through the air, and with a final determined grin, Ladybug flew off over the roofs.

Adrien stared after her for a moment before a sharp whack to the side of his head brought him to his senses. "Hey Kid!" said Plagg, "Weren't you listening? She said there's an akuma out there! Now stop mooning and do something about it!"

"Right! Plagg, claws out!"


	4. Unexpected Feelings

Exposure walked calmly and confidently down the street, watching people as they passed through doorways decked with her mistletoe. A self-satisfied smile spread across her face and the mistletoe stems surrounding her head danced in response. Though some passed the mistletoe unscathed, there was a growing number of people shivering and rubbing their arms in a futile attempt to warm themselves. She could even see a couple of statues frozen mid-step on the sidewalk.

"Éric look!" called a woman, attracting Exposure's attention. "All the shops have hung mistletoe! Why don't we stop for a moment?"

The man with her gave the plants a distasteful look, "Really? It's such a stupid tradition."

Pensively, Exposure stopped to watch, ignoring the staring people and honking cars. "Stupid tradition? Or perhaps you don't love your lady friend as much as she thinks, hm?" She reached down and carefully pulled a berry off of her mistletoe skirt and placed it near the ends of her fingers where it blended perfectly with her whitened skin. Palm up, she brought the berry to her lips and with a quick short puff, made it swell and pop, sending the mistletoe seed flying through the air to land on the man's hat where it promptly began to grow into a mistletoe sprig.

Seeing it, the woman smiled broadly and stretched up to kiss her companion. Exposure watched in amusement as he hesitated, then returned the kiss. Her smile grew as the mistletoe began sending out icy tendrils in response to the disconnect between his actions and feelings for the woman he was kissing. When the ice reached his lips, his partner pulled back with a start and screamed.

Exposure laughed, "Now that you know how he really feels you can stop wasting your time and find someone who actually loves you!"

The woman turned to look at her with panicked eyes before stumbling into a run and disappearing down an alley.

Exposure threw her arms wide, crimson cable sweater gleaming in the sunlight. "Anyone else want to know if their partner truly loves them?"

Suddenly, the glowing purple reappeared in her peripheral vision and her smile faded into a scowl. _We have an agreement Exposure. Stop getting distracted._

"I have to get their attention somehow Hawkmoth. Don't worry," she said as a flash of black spotted red caught her eye, "I have a plan."

* * *

A few well placed sprigs of mistletoe later, Ladybug and Chat Noir were converging on the screaming citizens attempting to run from Exposure. Some had frozen limbs and rapidly spreading ice spidering across their bodies until they transformed into yet more statues scattered across the sidewalks and in doorways. With a flick, Ladybug released her yoyo from a lamppost and did a mid-air flip to land in front of her. Chat helicoptered in beside her, landing neatly in an attack stance, staff extended and at the ready.

Exposure smiled and spread her arms wide, "Welcome! Now that the players have finally arrived, let's find a playground shall we?" Ladybug's eyes narrowed, and with a laugh, Exposure leapt into the air, heading for the building she'd picked out before their arrival: a conveniently located college, sure to be full of students and doorways she could use to her advantage.

As she dashed up the stairs to the main door, Exposure spun and threw out her arms towards her pursuers, sending vines of mistletoe shooting at them from her hair and skirt. Ladybug and Chat Noir dodged through them easily, she using her yoyo to tangle them together and pull them out of her way, he using his staff to knock them from his path. Exposure slowly and carefully backed up through the door, glancing up as she did to ensure that her mistletoe was still in place and had berries to be activated. Sending out a few extra vines to slow Chat Noir, she was able to ensure that they both reached the threshold at the same moment.

Laughter bubbled up as the two heros came to an abrupt halt in the doorway, pausing to look at each other. "And what will the heros do now?" Exposure taunted, "One will freeze, one will not. Chat has always loved his lady, so will she kiss him to save him from the elements? But Ladybug does not return the sentiment, so will he abstain to save her?" Her eyes narrowed, "Either way, one of your miraculouses is mine!"

Exposure watched as Ladybug and Chat Noir exchanged a look. "I'm not a cat-sicle yet! And much as I would love some holiday eggsnog for Kissmas, a gentlecat never takes advantage of a Lady!" Ladybug hesitated, but Chat jumped forward, swinging his baton in a wide arc. A moment later, she was by his side, yoyo spinning to block Exposure's vines. Chat quickly retracted his baton and used it to launch himself into the air to attack from above.

A twist, jump, and another wave of vines sent him flying back towards Ladybug. "Ah, the self-sacrificing Chat Noir, as always." Exposure smiled fiercely, "I look forward to prying your ring off your cold frozen finger!"

"Chat wait!" at Ladybug's call, both Chat and Exposure turned towards her. A shiver passed through her body and Exposure was momentarily dumbstruck. Fortunately, Chat and Ladybug were far too busy watching each other to take advantage of her momentary lapse. "It's not quite that simple…"

Chat turned back to Exposure, suppressing his own shivering as he leapt forward again. "Yes it is milady. You can purify the akuma, I can't. Therefore you come first."

"Oh but it isn't," said Exposure gleefully. Her smile took on a predatory edge and she easily slipped around Chat before sauntering closer to Ladybug. "It seems I was wrong," she hissed as she circled the spotted girl while keeping a careful eye out for Chat Noir, "Ladybug does in fact return Chat's feelings." She laughed at the look of dismay on Ladybug's face, "Oh this makes it much more interesting!" Chat had redirected himself and was again headed straight for her. Exposure did a quick estimate of Chat's distance before snagging Ladybug's yoyo with a vine to pull her closer, "So will your pride turn you both to ice for me? Or will you kiss him and give me the perfect distraction to take your miraculouses? So many possibilities, so little time!" Exposure's laughter rang through the courtyard even as she released Ladybug's yoyo and reset herself to attack, "And they all end with _my_ victory!"

* * *

Ladybug couldn't decide if she felt more embarrassed, angry, or guilty. She loved _Adrien_! How could the mistletoe possibly be affecting her like this with Chat Noir? She dodged a few more vine attacks and found herself next to Chat again. "Don't leaf me hanging LB, what's the plan? Lucky Charm and take her out?"

She turned towards her partner, mouth open, ready to answer and froze. Chat Noir was now constantly shivering and geometrical patterns of white ice were spreading across his suit. One particularly large spot on his cheek gave him a ghostly appearance. "There's no time…" she whispered. Another shiver wracked her body and she glanced down to see the same white patterns spreading across her own suit.

"We can do this Ladybug. I'm with yo–"

Ladybug wasn't listening. Despite her guilt over wanting to kiss another boy ( _and really, it's not like Adrien and I are dating!_ ), and her confusion to discover that she was apparently in love with Chat Noir, Paris needed her. Paris needed them both, and Ladybug wasn't going to let her mixed-up emotions prevent her from doing her job. No sooner had she reached that conclusion than she knew what she had to do. Disregarding whatever Chat had been trying to say, Ladybug reached out to wrap her arm around his waist, pulling him in tight to her. He squawked in surprise, but her yoyo was already wrapped around the railling and pulling them to the upper level of the courtyard. She used her yoyo to slingshot them over the railing and land running, Chat's hand firmly in hers to ensure he followed.

"What are you doing milady? I'm not that c-c-cold yet," Chat teeth chattered and he twisted to look behind them, but Ladybug didn't answer or slow down.

When she was sure they were out of sight of Exposure, Ladybug wrenched open the nearest door and flung Chat inside, pausing only to ensure this room was empty apart from them. He stumbled when she released him, and she slipped in to silently close the door behind them. His eyes were wide as she stepped close to him. "Ladybug? Why is there ice on your suit?"

She didn't bother to answer. Instead, Ladybug grabbed Chat firmly by the bell and pulled him down to press her lips against his. The cold began to recede almost immediately.

Tilting her head, Ladybug leaned into the kiss. Chat seemed frozen beneath her, and she worried for a moment that she had been too late. Just as Ladybug started to pull back to check on him, Chat's arms came up to trap her in place. She felt a thrill pass through her, accompanied by a wave of warmth wherever they came into contact. Realizing quickly that his touch must be melting the ice on her, Ladybug released his bell and trailed her hands down his chest before sliding them around to his back in an effort to get rid of the ice coating her partner. Chat purred under her touch and one of his hands crept up to cradle the back of her neck while the other pressed against the small of her back, keeping her close. Not that she had any desire to pull away.

Her gloved hands slid smoothly over his suit and Chat's delicious warmth chased all her thoughts away, leaving Ladybug wondering why she'd been pushing him away for so long. Soon that thought too was gone and she revelled in the sensation of Chat's lips moving against hers. _Just like Adrien…_ She stiffened and the sound of someone calling her name finally registered. She hesitated, tempted to drift back into the pleasant haze of kissing Chat when something hard hit the side of her head. She pulled back and turned in the direction of the pain. A group of her classmates were standing in the room with them, staring, many with mouths agape. Front and centre, hand aloft and clutching a pen, Alya was glaring daggers. A quick glance down revealed another pen lying on the floor: likely the object that had hit her head.

"Don't get me wrong," said Alya, "I'm thrilled to see you guys together, but don't you think you should do something about the akuma?"

With a yelp, Ladybug and Chat Noir jumped a few feet apart, both turning bright red. Ladybug had to clear her throat a few times before she was able to speak again, "I'd uh… recommend you stay away from the mistletoe. It has some… side effects."

Chat moved to hold the door for her, "Shall we milady?"

She took two steps towards him before noticing the mistletoe in the doorway, "I think it might be best if we pass through doors separately for the time being Chaton."

He glanced up and a mild blush returned to his face. With a half-cheeky, half-dopey grin on his face, Chat turned back to Ladybug with a bow, "While you do look suc- _cute_ -lent today, I think you may be right bugaboo." With a bound, he was through the door and started down the hall.

Ladybug counted to ten before approaching the door to be sure he'd be well outside the mistletoe's reach.

* * *

After the fifth time that Exposure managed to herd Ladybug and Chat Noir under the mistletoe together, Ladybug was getting fed up. She couldn't quite decide whether to thank Alya for tracking them down to bring them to their senses and get back into the fight, or to strangle her for interrupting. _And what about Adrien?_ Ladybug quashed the thought before it could go further. Now really wasn't the time. It was time to change tactics.

As they peered around a corner, looking for Exposure again, Chat leaned closer to her, "While I love being close to you my lady, and I certainly have no complaints about the kissing, I think it might be best if we focus on attacking separately for the moment."

Ladybug nodded in agreement. Spotting Exposure halfway down the hallway, she gestured with her chin, "Near or far side?"

Chat flashed her a grin, "I'll circle around. It shouldn't take me _berry_ long."

Ladybug suppressed a groan and he disappeared silently back the way they'd come. She sucked in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before blowing it out in a long, steady stream while counting to ground herself. She had just reached twenty-three when Chat stepped out on the other side of the akuma, baton now extended and draped across his shoulders as a staff. "Did you _miss_ -letoe me?"

Exposure spun towards him and Ladybug began to move silently down the hall. "Oh yes. Five times now." Ladybug grimaced and saw Chat's grin slip for a moment. "But I'll be happy to do it again." Exposure turned her head slightly as though scanning beyond him, "Where is your lady love? Did she tire of you already? No matter." Her hand reached down to her skirt and came up with a mistletoe berry.

 _The akuma must be in the berries of her skirt!_ Gripping her yoyo tightly in hand, Ladybug came to a halt. Throwing it high into the air she yelled, "Lucky Charm!" As she reached out to catch the item, something small struck her shoulder, jerking her arms backwards and causing her to miss. Ladybug glanced down to see a small mistletoe plant growing where the berry had struck. She tried to brush it off, but quickly learned that it was impossible to separate from her suit. She eyed it nervously for moment, but it seemed inert other than continuing to grow down her arm and across her back. _Let's just get this Lucky Charm figured out so I don't have to worry about what happens next._

Ladybug bent down and scooped up a ladybug patterned hairbrush. _Now what?_ She narrowed her eyes and everything faded into grey-tones. A quick scan of her surroundings showed Chat's belt, his hand, the ceiling sprinklers, and Exposure's skirt full of mistletoe flashing with the familiar ladybug pattern. _Let's do this!_

A flick of her wrist and Ladybug's yoyo snapped open into communicator mode so she could call Chat. When he answered the video spun and swooped. She glanced up towards the battling opponents to see that he was currently deflecting vines with his baton. "I hope you didn't just call to _chat_ , I'm a little busy at the moment bugaboo." His face flashed across the camera screen, but he wasn't looking at her.

"I've got a plan." The baton spun back so his face appeared in the screen again, but it meant he was motionless for a moment too long, and Ladybug saw a blur of something in the corner of the image. "Chat look out!" He ducked immediately, but whatever it was still made contact with one of his cat ears. His ear flicked a few times in response and she stared in concern as mistletoe began to grow down from his ear and through his hair.

A gasp of shock escaped her and Ladybug looked down to see that everywhere the mistletoe had reached on her suit was now covered in a layer of ice. The cold was biting and spreading quickly. All thoughts of her Lucky Charm fled as she looked back to her yoyo to meet Chat's eyes. "I need you _now_! Follow my tracker, _don't_ let Exposure follow you. And _hurry!_ "

She snapped her yoyo closed and took off back down the hallway, hoping he would be fast enough.

* * *

Chat stared at the blank screen of his baton for another second before instinctively rolling across the floor to avoid Exposure's vines. Coming to his feet he turned to give the akuma a taunting look, "Another _miss_ -letoe. Care to try again?"

Exposure smiled widely, "No need. It appears that your _love bug_ has left you to the elements. You'll be a pretty little kitty statue soon enough."

"How about we skip the cat statue?" he said, "Cats are much more interesting when they're awake."

With the press of a button, Chat separated his baton into two pieces and threw them at Exposure. She dodged easily with a contemptuous look, "And you were talking about _me_ missing?"

Chat gave her his best smile and spread his arms wide, "Ah, but you're forgetting a basic lesson learned from a classic children's song: _Cats always come back!_ "

Exposure scowled and opened her mouth to reply when the first piece of his baton hit the back of her knees, causing them to buckle. The second piece ricocheted off the back of her head, sending her pitching forwards to the ground. Chat leapt forward, using her back as a spring board to snatch the two halves of his baton out of the air and snapped them back together before landing with a roll.

As soon as he was up on his feet again, Chat was running down the hall where he'd last seen Ladybug, pulling up the map on his baton as he went. Seeing her marker at the far end of the school, Chat pushed himself to run faster. Clicking filled his ears and he reached up to find that his hair had frozen into strands which clicked together as he moved.

Approaching Ladybug's marker, Chat slowed down and carefully checked to be sure that no one had followed him. When their dots were side by side he glanced around, spotted a door and reached out to open it. No sooner had he turned the knob when it was wrenched out of his hand to reveal a dark room, followed by an icy white hand snagging his wrist and pulling him into the room before slamming the door closed and locking it behind him.

"Ladyb–" His words were cut off by icy lips being pressed against his own and he recoiled slightly in surprise. Recognizing Ladybug's hairstyle (though it was streaked liberally with white) and her now very icy suit, he relaxed and kissed her back.

Remembering their previous kisses, Chat quickly began to stroke his hands across any and all parts of her suit that felt cold, trying to chase away the ice. He quickly noticed that there was a different feel to this kiss. Unlike their previous ones, this one had an edge of desperation to it that had them clinging to each other, both striving to get closer to the point that Chat wasn't quite sure where he ended and Ladybug began.

A purr rumbled in his chest as Ladybug's hands reached up to tangle through Chat's hair, pulling him down and warming his head. Wanting her to share the soothing feeling of fingers massaging his scalp, Chat ran his hands up her back to thread one through her hair while the other settled between her shoulder blades. She tilted her head to the opposite side to deepen the kiss and Chat's arm slipped out from under hers so he could slide it up her neck and cup the side of her face before tracing the outer shell of her ear. When his thumb brushed over her earring it felt as though he'd received an electrical shock and they both pulled away, breathing hard.

Wide blue eyes stared up into his own and Chat realized that not only could he hear a persistent beeping sound, but he had been hearing it for a while. He stared at his lady in confusion for a moment, then she was grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him towards the door. Before he could protest, she had unlocked it, opened it, and given him a shove through the doorway. He stumbled, arms windmilling until he regained his balance, partially turned towards the door again.

Chat stared at the closed door, dumbfounded. It wasn't until a flash of pink light came through the edges of the door that he realized what the beeping had meant and why Ladybug had pushed him out of the room so unceremoniously. With a breathy laugh, Chat stumbled to the nearest wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor with his head between his knees.

He allowed himself thirty seconds to slow his heartbeat and regain his equilibrium before forcing himself to his feet again, while feeling very grateful for the wall at his back. He stepped back towards the door and briefly rested one hand against it. "I've got your back milady. You recharge, I'll go keep Exposure out of trouble until you're ready."

Her reply was muffled, but unmistakable, "I'll be there soon kitty."


	5. Self-endangerment

Marinette watched as Tikki quickly and neatly took bites out of the cookie she'd packed for her. "I think I'm going to go out."

Tikki froze mid-bite and looked up at Marinette with wide eyes, "Out where?"

"To watch the akuma. Our plans aren't working, so I need a chance to watch it without the constant uh… interruptions." Her checks reddened as her thoughts drifted to the kiss she'd shared with Chat Noir only moments before.

Tikki chewed slowly for a moment and swallowed deliberately, "I don't think this is a good idea Marinette."

Marinette narrowed her eyes in determination, "Well we need to do _something_ Tikki. Exposure doesn't have any reason to attack me and it's not like I'm going to walk right out in front of her. I'm just going to watch without my spots for a bit. Red isn't exactly inconspicuous."

Tikki's look was disapproving, "She'll be more than happy to freeze you too if she sees you." Tikki's eyes searched Marinette's and she felt an involuntary blush rising into her face. "Are you sure that's why you want to go out there?

Carefully not meeting her kwami's eyes, Marinette opened her purse and gestured to Tikki. "Of course I'm sure." Tikki flew inside reluctantly. "It'll be fine Tikki. She'll never know I was there. We need to change tactics, what we have been doing isn't working." She ignored Tikki's skeptical look as she snapped her purse closed and carefully cracked open the door. With a quick look from side to side to be sure Chat was gone, Marinette slipped out into the hallway, shutting the door softly behind herself.

She crept down the hallway, silently retracing her steps until she could hear Chat's mocking voice. "Don't _leaf_ me hanging here! You're _berry_ easy to avoid." Marinette peeked around the corner to see Chat smirking at the akuma, somehow managing to strike a pose that was simultaneously saucy and battle-ready. Narrowing her eyes, she scanned the area and the akuma, trying to find a weak point, or at least identify the akumatized object, but her gaze kept drifting back to Chat Noir.

Exposure's vines wove around Chat, who carefully danced just out of reach.

A flicker of movement caught her attention and suddenly Marinette realized that Exposure was playing with him. While most of the vines attacked from in front and to the sides, a few were slowly creeping their way around him, preparing to attack from behind. Throwing caution to the wind, Marinette sprang around the corner, waving her arms to get Chat's attention, "Chat Noir! Behind you!"

* * *

Chat's blood ran cold when he heard Marinette's voice. Fortunately for him, his instincts kicked in, and he leapt forward, twisting through the air and spinning to avoid the vines that had been sneaking behind him. He landed lightly, then immediately extended his baton to propel himself to the upper catwalk, retracting it just in time to avoid it being entangled in Exposure's vines.

He glanced down to check on Marinette who was trying to scramble back out of sight, but Exposure had already set her sights on the bluenette. Growling softly to himself, Chat jumped back down, landing between the two. "Marinette, run!"

Exposure laughed, "What, did you run out of witty one-liners street rat? You seem unusually concerned about this one. You even know her name." A malicious smile spread across her face, "Does that mean you're not as faithful to _Your Lady_ as you pretend?" She reached down to retrieve a couple of berries from her skirt, "Shall we find out?"

A feeling of cold dread settled in Chat's stomach. He flashed back briefly to the kiss he'd shared with Marinette that morning on the steps of the school, surely that hadn't been enchanted mistletoe? Marinette was just a friend. A kind, amazing, talented, beautiful friend… _Focus idiot!_ He glanced over his shoulder to see that Exposure had succeeded in blocking Marinette's escape with her vines. Struggling to appear indifferent Chat called out, "You don't like my puns? How cold."

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a pair of small arms wrapped around him and grabbed his baton, thumbing past the button to make it extend and shoot them up into the air. "Can't you go five minutes without a pun?" Marinette grumbled, "Maybe then I wouldn't have to save you."

Mentally unbalanced by her unexpected proximity, Chat had to try twice before he managed to grab the railing and flip them over it while retracting his baton. "I had it under control princess. Keeping akumas busy and away from civilians is part of my job." He snagged her wrist and pulled her down a hallway, running and turning random corners to escape Exposure's pursuit, "A job which is significantly easier when said civilians don't go jumping into the middle of a fight."

Marinette tried unsuccessfully to pull her hand free, "I–" she hesitated, "Ladybug sent me to keep an eye on you."

Chat stumbled, dragging them to a stop and barely managing to keep his footing. Marinette wasn't so lucky and only his hold on her wrist prevent her from faceplanting on the floor. His eyes were furious as he looked at her. " _Ladybug sent you?_ " He growled and his tail lashed behind him, "Was she _trying_ to get you frozen?!"

Finally succeeding in pulling her hand free, Marinette planted her hands on her hips and glared at him, "Of course not!"

"So you're saying she doesn't trust me to stay out of trouble?"

"No! She just wanted to make sure someone was watching your back while she couldn't! She was worried about you you stupid cat!"

"I knew about the vines behind me! _This is what I do!_ "

The silence between them stretched as they glared at each other. Suddenly, Marinette jerked forwards and Chat reached out automatically to catch her. Laughter rang down the hallway as Exposure sauntered towards them, hands outstretched and vines writhing through the air around her. "Look at what the cat dragged in. How many statues will I get this time?"

Chat quickly glanced down at Marinette to see a rapidly spreading sprig of mistletoe on her back. Tendrils had already begun to snake their way across his gloves and up his arms as well. Their eyes met, and this time hers were wide and frightened. His face hardened with determination and his arms slipped around her to scoop her up in a bridal carry, turning to run as he did.

* * *

By the time Chat had managed to lose Exposure, Marinette was shivering violently in his arms and her lips were turning blue. "Ch-ch-chat…"

"Shh…" he shushed her as he stuck his head through a door to ensure the room was empty before stepping through and kicking it closed behind them. When he tried to put her down Chat quickly realized that his hands were frozen to her and there was no way to let go. His mind blanked momentarily as the implications sunk in. _No… I can't be in love with Marinette. I love Ladybug!_ "I'm s-so s-s-sorry M-Marinette. This is all m-my f-f-fault. And now y-you're going to fr-freeze."

"A-and y-you?" she returned with a raised eyebrow. Her hands tightened convulsively around his neck as she shivered.

He shook his head, "I c-can't. I l-love her." Chat Noir collapsed against a wall with a groan, "Why is this happening to me?"

Marinette let out a shaky laugh in his arms, "You c-can l-love more than o-one p-p-person."

He looked at her in anguish, "I'm s-sorry. I k-know you love m-me, b-but it doesn't ch-change anything. I c-can't betray her!"

"H-have you p-promised h-her anything?"

"N-no…"

"Then y-you aren't b-betray-betraying her." He just shook his head in response, squeezing his eyes tightly closed. He flinched as her cold hand came to rest on his cheek. "Ch-ch-chat, L-l-ladybug, n-n-needs you," she forced out, "Sh-she'll underst-stand…"

Suddenly, his eyes flew open, "Of c-course! You're m-my friend! I j-just need to g-give you a b-b-bise!" He ignored Marinette's shaking head (she was just shivering wasn't she?) and leaned forward to give her a quick kiss on each cheek before pulling back with a triumphant smile.

The smile disappeared instantly as a burst of cold seemed to explode in his gut as though he'd been sucker punched. He doubled over around Marinette, shivering uncontrollably and gasping for breath. "Y-you're m-m-making it w-worse!" she said.

Unable to reply, Chat struggled to raise his head enough to meet her gaze. He expected to see annoyance or fear in her eyes, but instead he found sympathy.

"I un-unders-stand," she caressed the side of his face and edge of his mask with trembling fingers. "I l-l-love s-someone else t-too." Her wide blue eyes seemed to suck him in. "It's g-going to b-be okay." As she pulled herself closer, he didn't resist.

Her lips were cold, but soft against his own. Chat prepared himself to push her away, but hesitated when she didn't try to force him to respond. Slowly, a point of warmth grew between them and he found that he no longer wanted to. _I'm sorry My Lady…_ Then all thoughts of Ladybug were swept from his mind as the point of warmth grew, filling him with peace, comfort, and love. The kisses he had shared with Ladybug had been amazing, but something about the simplicity of this kiss overshadowed them. Though it seemed ridiculous, Chat felt as though here, in Marinette's arms with their lips pressed gently together, he was safe. He was _home_.

Gradually, Chat realized that his shivering had stopped and his hands were no longer frozen to Marinette. Not wanting to lose this feeling, he used his newfound mobility to place her feet gently on the ground before wrapping his arms tightly around her and tangling one hand in her hair. When his claws snagged on one of her hair elastics, he carefully reached up without breaking the kiss to slip them out so he could freely massage her scalp and comb his fingers through her hair.

Just as he was debating deepening the kiss, Marinette gave a sudden yelp and jerked away from him. Chat quickly dropped his hands so she wouldn't be trapped. He would have stepped back, but the wall behind him left him nowhere to go. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Marinette was rubbing her arm and glaring down at– her purse? "No, it wasn't you." When she looked up and locked gazes, a beautiful blush spread across her cheeks. "Um… sorry."

Chat reached up to gently brush her now free hair behind one ear, "Don't be." Inwardly, he could feel the building war between guilt and bliss, but he firmly tamped it down to be faced later. He offered her a small smile, "I'm not."

The corners of her lips twitched upwards in reply, "I should probably let you get back fighting the akuma. Ladybug must be wondering where you are."

"Yeah." He stayed a moment longer, studying her face and was rewarded with a deepening of her blush. Realizing he was staring, Chat quickly averted his face to hide his own rising blush and slid along the wall to reach the door. He hesitated, his hand on the knob before turning back towards her, "We'll talk later?"

Marinette smiled, "Later."

Heart beating erratically and mind whirling in confusion, Chat Noir smiled back and stepped out of the room. His first few steps were wobbly, but a quick shake of his head helped him refocus and he took off in search of Exposure.

* * *

Tikki looked angrier than Marinette had ever seen as she phased right through her purse and flew up into her face. "I told you not to go out there!"

Marinette looked down at her shoes, unable to meet the angry kwami's gaze, "If I hadn't he'd have been trapped and who knows what Exposure would have done to him."

Flying down to hover in front of her face again, Tikki forced Marinette to look at her, "He knew about the vines! You didn't save him, you put yourself _and_ Chat Noir in danger and very nearly got _both of you frozen!_ "

"I know Tikki, but–"

" _No!_ There are no buts! Who's going to save Paris if you're an ice sculpture? _Think_ Marinette!"

Marinette hunched up her shoulders, "You're right Tikki, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight." When Tikki continued to stare at her expectantly she sighed and her shoulders sagged in defeat, "Alright, I wasn't really thinking about stopping Exposure. I was thinking about Chat Noir."

Tikki's gaze softened, "I realize this has to be confusing for you Marinette, but you need to be in control of your emotions." She drifted closer and rested a gentle paw on her face, "You'll have time to figure the rest of this out. I promise."

Marinette nodded, "You're right." Raising her head and squaring her shoulders, Marinette turned towards the door, "Let do this. Tikki, Spots On!"


	6. Victory

Ladybug announced her arrival with the whirring of her yoyo as she swung across the courtyard to land at Chat Noir's side. "Sorry for the delay Kitty, I got trapped in my civilian form for a bit."

"No problem Ladybug, nothing to report while you were gone. Are you ready to do some pruning?" Chat's voice sounded falsely cheerful and his pun felt forced.

Ladybug dodged a vine and turned slightly to look at him while still keeping an eye on Exposure, "Are you alright Chat?"

"Fe-line as fine as I can when fighting an akuma for an extended period of time as a solo act. Glad to have you back, but how about we focus on some berry picking for now." Chat dodged low, extending his staff and swinging it in an arc at Exposure's feet, forcing her to jump and drop the berries she'd just picked off of her skirt.

She stared at him a moment longer before shaking it off and stepping back a few paces. "Cover me for a minute Chaton." Mouth tight and cheeks slightly flushed, Chat Noir nodded at her and launched his own offense.

Trusting him to keep Exposure busy, Ladybug threw her yoyo into the air, "Lucky Charm!" When the magic cleared, a pair of mirrored sunglasses fell into her hands.

Chat glanced back towards her at her call and she saw his forehead scrunch up in confusion, "You got a plan for those specti-cools?"

Ladybug rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored him as she scanned the area. Chat's hand lit up immediately, as did Exposure's skirt, but it wasn't until she'd turned all the way around to see the open doors that her ladybug vision gave her the final piece: the snow-covered field outside. "Chat! We need to get her out of here!"

"On it!" Baton spinning, Chat attacked Exposure, forcing her back, step by step towards the main doors.

Sliding the sunglasses onto her face for safe keeping, Ladybug flung her yoyo out to wrap around Exposure, pinning her arms to her sides and giving the string a hard yank. Exposure came flying towards her and she had to quickly step to the side, releasing the yoyo with a practiced flick of her wrist as Exposure flew past her and out the doors.

"Nice one, m'lady!" said Chat as he came up beside her and flashed her a grin.

"Why thank you kitty." When she smiled back at him, his face suddenly turned bright red and he looked away. Ladybug blinked in confusion, but didn't have a chance to follow up as Exposure had regained her feet.

"That's quite the plan there Ladybug, but how are you going to get to me now?" she taunted. Bringing her hand to her face, Exposure blew sharply across her palm and sent a series of berries flying towards them. They scattered across the door frame, stairs and railings, immediately sprouting into a maze of mistletoe as she laughed at them. "In case you haven't figure it out for yourselves, your time between mistletoe exposure and freezing shrinks with every hit. You'll be statues before you even get close, and then your miraculouses will be mine!"

Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Ladybug scanned the sidewalk for the nearest lamp post. A steely glint flashed in her eyes when she spotted her target, "I wouldn't be so sure about that Exposure!" Left hand extended towards her partner, she gave him a saucy grin, "Do you trust me Chaton?"

Chat reached out to take her hand, then hesitated and pulled his own back slightly, "Yes, but I need to tell you something–"

"Akuma now, talking later." She took his hand and pulled him flush against her. Despite her assumed confidence, Ladybug couldn't suppress her blush. Nor did she miss the fact that Chat's face had managed to become an even darker red. _Here goes nothing!_ With a last check to be sure of her target, Ladybug threw her yoyo and wrapped it around the lamp post. Before she could lose her nerve, she wrapped her left arm tightly around Chat Noir and stretched up on her tippy-toes to press her lips to his and gave her yoyo string the tug that would retract it to pull them free of the school.

As they zipped past the mistletoe covered stairs, Ladybug could feel berries spitting seeds at them and tendrils trying to latch on to pull them down. Protected by their kiss, the seeds rebounded and the tendrils were unable to find purchase. Ladybug opened her eyes to check how close they were to the lamp post and flinched in surprise at how close Chat's face was to her own. _Idiot! Of course he's going to be close! I'm kissing him!_ Twisting to ensure they were clear of the mistletoe, she broke the kiss and released Chat Noir. A flick detached her yoyo from the lamp post and allowed her to land neatly on the sidewalk facing Exposure and yoyo at the ready. Chat's landing was a little less graceful as he stumbled when his feet hit the ground, his face a strange mix of pleasure and guilt.

"Chat! I need you to melt the snow!" she said, gesturing towards the park with a jerk of her head.

Chat regained his balance and gave her a confident nod. "Cataclysm!" The dark, bubbling magic surrounded his hand as he leapt across the road and into the park. He slammed his hand down into the snow and the magic spread across the park, melting the snow into a giant puddle around him.

"Come on, come on," Ladybug murmured to herself, watching as the water slowly drained down into the holes scattered across the park.

A small stream of bubbles appeared and Ladybug watched intently as a tiny black nose broke the surface of the water, closely followed by a small brown body with black stripes running down its back. It was quickly joined by dozens of other chipmunks. "Yes!" Pulling the sunglasses off her face, Ladybug twisted them around until they caught the sun, reflecting a bright patch on the water. One of the chipmunks spotted it and started to chase it. With a few flicks of the light across the water, Ladybug was able to attract most of the chipmunks and direct them out of the sudden lake and across the road towards Exposure.

"What are you doing?" Exposure demanded, using her vines to try and chase off the chipmunks. Unfortunately for her, the chipmunks – cold, wet, and hungry since they'd been disturbed from their hibernation – had just spotted the mistletoe berries covering her skirt. With excited squeaks, they eagerly swarmed up the vines to reach the tempting berries. "No!" Exposure fell to her knees as the last berry disappeared and a dark marbled purple butterfly flew up into the sky.

"I don't think so," said Ladybug as she quickly replaced the sunglasses on her face in order to free her hands and retrieve her yoyo. "Time to de-evilize!" With a sweeping throw of her yoyo, Ladybug trapped the akuma and snapped it back towards herself. "Gotcha!" She traced her finger across the yoyo shell and it opened to free the now purified butterfly to fly away across Paris. "Bye-bye little butterfly!" Pulling the sunglasses off her face with a flourish, Ladybug threw them high into the sky and called on her healing power: "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The magic flew out from her yoyo, soaring through Paris in a wave of red and black, removing mistletoe and turning ice statues back into people. The lake in the park became a snowy field again, and a final sweep scooped up all the chipmunks and returned them to their burrows.

Chat Noir walked up beside her and held out his fist for her to bump, "Bien joué!"

The last of the dark magic faded away from Exposure, leaving a woman in a knitted sweater and crumpled skirt. She blinked in confusion as she looked around and climbed slowly to her feet, "Where am I?"

Ladybug hurried forwards and touched her shoulder gently, "Don't worry madame, you were akumatized, but it's going to be alright now."

The woman's eyes filled with tears, "Akumatized? I'm so sorry Ladybug! I was so mad when I saw Victor kissing Julie…" she trailed off before laughing bitterly, "So much for promises and love and commitment! What a waste of my time." Her voice caught on the last word and a hiccuping sob escaped her.

Instinctively, Ladybug reached out to hug her, "I'm so sorry you had to go through that–" she hesitated for a moment, pulling back to look the woman in the eyes.

"Jacqueline."

Ladybug smiled kindly, "Jacqueline. I may not know you, but I can tell you this: he didn't deserve you." She squeezed Jacqueline's shoulders in comfort, "Don't give up on love and commitment. It _is_ real and one day you will find someone you can trust with your heart, and he will give you all the happiness you deserve."

Jacqueline tentatively returned the smile and reached up to brush the tears off her face. "Thank you Ladybug. And thank you for saving me." She glanced over Ladybug's shoulder and Ladybug twisted to see Chat standing nearby, "My thanks to both of you."

Chat bowed, "Our pleasure madame." He flashed her a grin as he straightened up and half turned towards Ladybug, "I'm sorry to have to cut this short, but we're out of time." His eyes flicked deliberately to Ladybug's earrings and her hand jumped up as though it could tell her how many spots she had left by feel alone.

Ladybug gave Jacqueline another quick hug, then released her and stepped back, pulling her yoyo off her hip, "Right. Best wishes madam. Bug out!"

* * *

 **A/N – Thank you for all the likes, follows and comments! Don't worry, it's not over yet. There's still all sorts of aftermath to deal with. ;)**


	7. Accusations

**A/N – So I realized that there is a bit of a contradiction back in chapter 3 (Unexpected Feelings) when Ladybug checked to see if the room was empty before grabbing Chat and kissing him, so I figured I better use the opportunity here to explain why she thought it was empty when it rather obviously wasn't.**

 **Also, sorry for the delay, I'd offer explanations (excuses?), but I really don't think that's what any of you came here to read. :) Enjoy! Updates should be more frequent again now.**

* * *

Marinette was panting as she raced down the stairs towards Mlle Bustier's classroom. She skidded to a halt by her desk and collapsed on her side of the bench, thankful to see that she wasn't the last to return. She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, gradually letting it out in an attempt to slow her heart rate and bury the memories that kept drifting through her mind of kissing Adrien and Chat Noir. She was so focused on trying to calm herself that she jumped in surprise and had to flail her arms to prevent herself from falling out onto the floor when Alya joined her and starting talking.

"Girl you are not going to believe this!" Marinette slowly opened her eyes one at a time, blushing deeply and expecting to be interrogated, but Alya wasn't even looking at her. Relaxing slightly, Marinette clasped her trembling hands tightly together in her lap and waited for Alya to look up from her phone. After a few seconds of silence, Marinette opened her mouth to ask what Alya was talking about, but she turned towards her with outstretched phone before Marinette could form the words. "Ladybug and Chat Noir are _in love_!"

Startled, it took a moment for Marinette to understand what Alya had said. When she did, she immediately felt her entire face flush bright red, "Wh-what makes you say that?" _Calm down, calm down, CALM DOWN!_

"Look!" said Alya, holding out the phone insistently.

Wary, Marinette carefully reached out to take the phone while watching Alya's face. Her grin was so wide that Marinette was sure Alya's cheeks were going to be aching within seconds. When Alya gestured impatiently at the phone she now held, Marinette finally dropped her own gaze to see what Alya wanted to show her. She blinked a couple of times, then all the blood that had rushed to her face moments before drained away, leaving her feeling light headed. There, on Alya's screen, was a video of her kissing ( _oh who was she kidding? They were making out!_ ) with Chat Noir as ice gradually melted off their suits. She hesitated, trying to hide the shaking in her hands, then tapped the screen to see how long the video was. _Three minutes?! How were we kissing for three minutes?!_ Marinette could feel herself starting to hyperventilate.

"Isn't this amazing?" said Alya, waving her hands around in excitement, "They just burst into the classroom where we were hiding and before anyone could even come out from behind the desks Ladybug grabbed Chat Noir by the bell and started kissing him!" She groaned, "I wish I'd caught that part on video! It was so sudden and unexpected that it took me a good thirty seconds to realize I should turn my camera on! And then I had to stop filming so I could interrupt them. I mean, it was kind of intense, and there _was_ an akuma for them to deal with." She shrugged slightly, "It's too bad I didn't catch all of it."

 _It lasted longer than three minutes?!_ The edges of her vision were starting to go fuzzy and Marinette was sure she was going to pass out at any moment. Instead, the one thing that could make the whole situation worse happened: Adrien walked in.

Ever his polite, well-mannered self, _(why? Why can't his obliviousness stretch just a little further?)_ Adrien immediately noticed her distress and came up to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder and crouching down so they were at the same level. "Marinette? Are you okay?"

Marinette forced her eyes away from the phone, noticing that her knuckles had turned white with her death grip and making a deliberate effort to relax them only to quickly retighten her grip when her hands began shaking uncontrollably. She tried to smile at him, but judging by the concerned look on his face, he wasn't convinced. "I'm f-fine. Just surprised." Adrien raised an eyebrow in silent question and she forged onward, "I was– I mean, Ladybug was kissing y– CHAT! Ladybug was kissing Chat Noir!"

To her surprise, Adrien flushed slightly and looked away from her. "Oh–" As his gaze fell on the phone in her hands, his mouth popped open, and his hand dropped away from her shoulder to steady himself on the seat of the bench.

Marinette looked back to Alya's phone where Ladybug and Chat Noir were obviously completely oblivious to the fact that they were being recorded. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, fighting back tears. _What did I do? Adrien's going to hate me!_

"Hey girl, what's wrong?"

Marinette blinked rapidly a few times and turned to meet Alya's worried look with a smile that she hoped looked less manic than the one she'd given Adrien, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just really surprised. Didn't Ladybug always say they weren't together?"

Alya didn't look convinced, but thankfully dropped the subject. "They don't have to be together to be in love. And that's obviously how Exposure's mistletoe worked, you had to act according to your feelings for the person with whom you were caught, otherwise ZAP! You turned into a statue." Alya narrowed her eyes and smiled tightly, glaring past Marinette. "Chloe froze before she made it halfway down the hallway after her stunt with Nath." Her face relaxed as she looked back to Marinette, "Poor Nath did too." Scrunching her eyebrows together, Alya tipped her head to the side, "But you had already disappeared. How did you get out of the room without getting caught by the mistletoe? And where did you end up?"

Marinette's mind went temporarily blank, "Uh… well… I went through the door by myself after Chloe left, so there was no one to kiss?" She realized she was still holding Alya's phone and quickly held it out to her. "I didn't know why the mistletoe was freezing people, but I went and hid in the bathroom because I figured I couldn't get caught under the mistletoe with anyone there." Adrien shifted slightly beside her and she turned towards him to see that despite now only being able to see the case, he was still staring fixedly at Alya's phone. She felt a twinge of worry for him, but just as she was about to check if he was okay, a new, falsely sweet voice, interrupted.

"Then how did you end up with Chat Noir?"

Marinette twisted to see Lila standing behind Adrien with a perfect mask of innocent confusion on her face. "I'm sorry, what?"

Lila blinked and widened her eyes, "How did you end up with Chat Noir?" she repeated, stepping around Adrien and stopping one step down from them while holding out her phone. The screen displayed a picture of Chat Noir carrying Marinette bridal style while tendrils of mistletoe and ice reached from the tips of his fingers to his shoulders. Thankfully, between her face being turned in towards Chat's shoulder and the angle of the picture, it was impossible to be sure whether or not the ice was directly on Marinette as well.

She was momentarily saved from answering by Alya. "No way! When was that?" Alya stood to reach across the desk towards Lila's phone who surrendered it easily. "Aw man! I must have missed that part! Lahiffe! I blame you!"

Nino, who had previously watching the lot of them in silent amusement, now turned to gape at his girlfriend. "What? How do you figure that?"

Alya rolled her eyes and handed back Lila's phone, "Obviously if you hadn't tried to stop me from following Ladybug I wouldn't have turned into a statue!"

Lila temporarily forgotten, Marinette rounded on Alya, "Wait, only people who didn't act according to their feelings got turned into ice from the mistletoe, how did you manage that?"

Alya looked slightly flustered, "Well… when I followed Ladybug out of the classroom Nino tried to stop me we and ended up under the mistletoe." She shrugged without meeting anyone's eyes, "But I was in a hurry to catch up to them to get some footage for the Ladyblog so…"

Nino was giving her a fond, yet exasperated look, "Yep. She ran off, turned into a statue and left me to freeze too. Some girlfriend."

"I'm sorry!" Alya reached out to Nino and he raised his hand to clasp hers, "Freezing does prove that I really do love you though!"

Nino just laughed, "I know babe."

"That's too bad." Stiffening at the reminder of Lila's continued presence, Marinette slowly turned back towards her. While she'd been distracted by Alya and Nino, Adrien had straightened up beside her. Lila was giving Alya a sympathetic smile, "Here, let me send you a copy for your blog." She tapped her phone a couple of times and Alya's dinged with an incoming text.

"That's awesome, thanks!" Alya grinned, then turned to Marinette, "You never did say, how _did_ you end up with Chat Noir?"

 _Think Marinette, THINK!_ "Uh well… everything had gone really quiet, so I came out of the bathroom to see whether Ladybug and Chat Noir had managed to defeat the akuma," she grimaced slightly, "It turned out they hadn't. Chat had to rescue me."

"Poor Ladybug though! To have Chat Noir leave her for you right after showing she loved him! How could you do that to her?" Lila asked.

Marinette shot to her feet, " _What?!_ " Behind her, she felt Adrien shift and rest his hand on her shoulder. Perhaps he meant it as a warning or a sign of support, but his grip was too tight to feel like anything other than panic. _Why would Adrien be panicking?_ she wondered.

"Well," said Lila, eyes still wide with feigned innocence, "You just said it, the mistletoe only froze people that didn't act according to their feelings, and you and Chat Noir are obviously freezing the in the picture. That must have really hurt Ladybug."

Adrien's grip on her shoulder tightened but Marinette barely noticed as she felt a wave of Ladybug confidence sweep over her, "Obviously nothing. First of all, Ladybug hadn't chosen to show him anything. Sure, the mistletoe proves she loves him, but she didn't really have a choice about kissing him, not if she wanted to save Paris, so that doesn't mean that they've made some kind of commitment to each other. Second, you can be in love with more than one person without that making you a bad person. What matters is what you _do_ about it." Marinette gradually became aware that her right arm was going numb. _What the– How tightly is he squeezing me?_ She rolled her shoulder back in an effort to get Adrien to loosen his grip, but he didn't respond.

Lila's eyes narrowed fractionally and Marinette was sure she could detect the traces of a smirk on her face, "Of course. But that's just it. Chat Noir came back and cataclysmed the snow for Ladybug. Which means he didn't freeze. Which means he _did_ kiss you."

A blush was threatening to rise back into her face and Adrien's grip tightened further. Marinette swallowed back a hiss of pain and struggled not to glare at Lila knowning that it would only make herself appear defensive. "Assuming you're right, that still wouldn't mean anything. Chat Noir is needed to help protect Paris. He could have easily kissed me simply so he would be there for Ladybug. Though if you've ever paid any attention to him, you'd know that he would never do that. Besides, how exactly could Chat Noir or I possibly be in love with each other? We've barely even met! The only thing that picture proves is that Chat Noir took the time to save me despite the fact that he was quickly being turned into a cat-sicle." Adrien jumped slightly at her pun and thankfully loosened his grip just enough to restore blood flow to her arm. She couldn't quite contain her gasp as the sensation of pins and needles raced from shoulder to fingertips and saw Alya giving her a quizzical look in her peripheral vision. "And just in case you missed it, Exposure had the ability to target separate people with her berries so that they didn't even have pass her mistletoe together to be affected!" With a deep breath, Marinette lowered her voice in an effort to sound reasonable, "So wouldn't you agree that it makes far more sense that Ladybug and Chat Noir had been separately tagged with Exposure's berries yet again? Chat is enough of a hero that he risked being frozen to save me before dealing with the threat to himself."

"Wow. That is an awesome story!" said Alya, "Do you mind if I quote you when I post the pic on my blog?" She was tapping rapidly on her phone making notes, "I mean, I usually focus on Ladybug, but it wouldn't hurt to do a Chat Noir feature for some variety." She looked up at Marinette with shining eyes, "Please girl?"

"Uh… sure." Adrien's hand finally slipped off Marinette's shoulder and she reached over with her opposite hand to massage her now throbbing shoulder.

Lila's face had relaxed into an expression of relief, but Marinette was sure she could detect annoyance in her green eyes. "I'm glad. I mean, I didn't want to hurt you Marinette, but Ladybug is my friend, I couldn't let someone else hurt her."

Inwardly seething, Marinette forced a smile on her face, "Of course not, I understand."

With a wave, Lila walked back up the stairs to her seat.

"I'm sorry." Marinette turned in surprise to see Adrien rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the ground sheepishly. "Is your arm okay?"

"Oh yeah, fine. It's fine." Marinette studied Adrien's face and she couldn't help noticing that he still looked like something was bothering him, "Are you okay?"

Adrien snapped his arm down, adopting a casual smile, "Of course. I better go sit down before Mlle. Bustier is ready to start." Marinette watched with a slight frown on her face as Adrien slipped past her and back down to his seat before sliding back into her own.

Alya slid closer and nudged Marinette with her elbow, "So… what's up with you and Sunshine? First the kiss, now he's being all chummy? Come on girl, spill the beans!"

Marinette opened her mouth without having any idea what she going to say. Thankfully, Mlle Bustier chose that moment to call the class to order and start the lesson. With an inaudible sigh of relief and an apologetic shrug of her shoulders, Marinette turned to the front of the class without answering. Alya raised an eyebrow and tipped her head slightly forward mouthing the word _later_. Marinette tried not to let her feelings of foreboding show.


	8. Dating

Plagg zipped out of Adrien's pocket just in time as his chosen collapsed onto his bed. "What am I going to do?" Adrien moaned into the blankets.

Brushing off imaginary dust, Plagg gave him a haughty look, "How about not trying to flatten your kwami?"

" _Plagg_ …" Adrien rolled over onto his back into to glare at the small black cat before groaning in frustration and covering his face with his arm. "You _know_ that's not what I mean."

The tantalizing aroma of camembert wafted towards him from the cabinet where Adrien stored all his cheese. Plagg's mouth started to water and he slowly drifted towards it, savouring every moment of the delicious smells. "Mm… camembert…" Something soft suddenly whacked into him, sending Plagg flying across the room until it squashed him against a wall. Dazed, Plagg flopped onto the soft object where it had landed on the floor and blinked a few times before realizing it was a pillow. He turned to glare at Adrien. "What was that for?"

"I need _help_!" said Adrien, returning Plagg's glare, "I _don't_ need a kwami rhapsodizing about _cheese!_ "

Plagg shot one more longing look at the cabinet before zipping across the room to hover above Adrien's head. " _Fine_. What do you need help with?"

Adrien pushed himself up off his bed abruptly so he could start pacing the room and Plagg hissed as he was forced to swerve quickly out of the way. " _Everything!_ How can I be in love with Marinette? I still love Ladybug! And why did she lie about what happened? Does that mean she doesn't love me? Does she regret kissing me? Does she think I used her? How am I going to face Ladybug now that I know I'm in love with someone else? Is she going to hate me? Will she think I betrayed her? Will she–"

Plagg rolled his eyes, "Stop! Why are you asking me any of this? You know I can't answer those questions right? You need to ask Marinette and Ladybug. _No one else can help you_. You want my advice? Go ask them on a date." At the horrified look on Adrien's face Plagg had to roll his eyes again, "Not _together_ you nitwit! Ask them on _separate_ dates! People do that kind of thing all the time." In a voice too quiet for Adrien to hear, he added, "And I'm sure they'll both be fine with it since they're _literrally the same person_."

His pacing resumed as Adrien responded, "Right. So I should go talk to them. I should probably talk to Marinette first. I mean, she did defend me…" Eyes wide, he spun back to face Plagg, "But how do I know she did? That will be super suspicious if I show up talking about things she said when I shouldn't have been there!"

Throwing up his paws in exasperation, Plagg flew the cabinet and phased through it before reemerging with a wedge of camembert. "And you're supposed to be smart. Alya said she was going to post it all on her blog didn't she?"

Adrien's face lit up, "That's right! She did!" He darted across he room to wake his computer and bring up the Ladyblog. Plagg drifted over to watch as he munched on his snack. As soon as the website loaded, Lila's picture of Chat Noir carrying Marinette filled the screen along with the caption 'Breaking Mews: Chat Noir Selflessly Risks Freezing to Rescue Student'. Adrien quickly scrolled down through the post to be sure Alya had quoted Marinette, and a smile of relief filled his face. "This is perfect Plagg! Now I have a reason to know. Let's go talk–" he cut himself off abruptly and when he turned to look at his kwami Plagg was annoyed to see that his previous expression of worry was back in place. "What if it's too soon? What if Marinette doesn't want to talk to me yet? What if she doesn't want to talk to me at all? What if–"

"What if you shut up and just go ask her?" Adrien stared at him, mouth agape. Plagg growled in frustration and gave a regretful look at his remaining cheese before tossing it into the air and swallowing it whole. "I never thought I'd say this, but _just transform and get your butt out there already!_ "

For the first and likely only time in his entire existence, Plagg felt nothing but relief as he was sucked into Adrien's miraculous.

* * *

As Chat Noir approached the familiar Dupain-Cheng bakery, his eyes were immediately drawn to the lithe figure pacing back and forth on the balcony. He felt a surge of nerves and quickly gave himself a final boost with his baton before they could suck him in and make him change his mind about visiting. Retracting his baton enough to spin it above his head to stay aloft, he tried to figure out what he was going to say while he covered the final stretch, but his mind remained stubbornly blank. He landed silently on the railing behind her, hesitating for just a moment before jumping silently down. He could hear Marinette mumbling to herself, but was only able to catch something about a hamster before she turned around and let out an ear-piercing shriek.

Chat Noir flinched, then quickly put his hands out towards her, palms up and empty, "It's just me Marinette! Chat Noir!"

Unfortunately, Marinette didn't quite recover fast enough. She stumbled back a couple of steps and tripped over one of her potted plants. Her arms windmilled and Chat jumped forward to try and catch her, but her left hand hit the small storage box beside her with a resounding WHACK, destabilizing her further and sending her sideways towards her lounge chair. She twisted as she fell and her head missed the bottom rail of the chair by milimetres. Realizing he wouldn't be able to catch her, Chat instead dove to the floor just in time for Marinette to land on him instead. All the air in his lungs was expelled with an explosive whoosh as her head made contact with his solar plexus.

Almost immediately, Marinette shot to her knees, hands fluttering uselessly around him, "I'm so sorry Chat! You startled me and I panicked and then I tripped and you dove over here and I landed on you, but I didn't mean to! Are you alright? Did I hurt you? Can you still talk? Chat? Chat!"

Blinking back the tears that had formed in his eyes at the sudden impact, Chat Noir gestured for her to back up a bit as he tried to regain his breath. He could hear a dog barking nearby, but far more concerning to him was the nearby sound of heavy footsteps pounding up a staircase. As quickly as he could, Chat rolled to his hands and knees and crawled across the balcony to hide under the far side of Marinette's wooden table. He didn't miss the look of utter confusion on her face.

"Um… Chat? Did you– did you hit your head?" He turned towards her just enough to shoot her a forced smile between wheezes and a thumbs up, but her expression didn't clear. "Are you su–"

"Marinette?!" The trap door flew open with a bang and M. Dupain's head and shoulders appeared through the small opening. Marinette screeched again and spun towards him, scrabbling backwards like a crab.

"Papa! You scared me!" She threw a quick glance towards Chat, who was doing his best to breath while staying quiet and hidden, then stood and walked towards her father.

"Why did you scream? Are you alright?" M. Dupain's eyes were flitting all around and Chat scrunched himself into a tighter ball, closing his eyes so their telltale green glow wouldn't give him away and hoping that his suit would allow him to blend into the night.

"Papa I'm fine." Marinette's voice was soothing and Chat found himself relaxing slightly in response. "I thought I saw a rat–" Chat stifled a snort, "but it was just a strange shadow." There was a slight pause and Chat could easily imagine the way Marinette would be waving her hands as she tried to explain. "You know me, I jumped, I tripped, I fell… I'm fine though. Nothing's hurt."

Chat counted the seconds as the silence stretched, unwilling to risk opening his eyes to see what was going on.

"Please be more careful honey. You could have hit your head or broken something."

"Well, I think I did break a pot, but it's not a big deal."

"Why don't you come in? It's late and you have school tomorrow. You need your sleep sweetheart."

 _What? No!_ Chat Noir stiffened and opened his eyes in the tiniest of slits to try and see what Marinette was doing. _I haven't even had the chance to talk to her!_

"I will soon Papa. I think I could use a couple of minutes to bring my heart rate back down so that I'll be able to sleep." She let out a nervous sounding giggle and Chat quickly closed his eyes again.

"Alright sweetie, but please be more careful." Marinette's loft ladder creaked as M. Dupain climbed back down and Chat Noir let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, pleased to discover he could do so naturally again. "And don't stay up too late!" He called back up.

"Okay Papa!"

Chat slumped back against the central table post in relief, taking a few deep breaths before opening his eyes. He had to bite back his own scream as he came face to face with Marinette who had apparently crawled under the table edge to him and was now just centimetres away. She smiled apologetically, "Sorry. Guess I should've been more careful."

"It's fine," he squeaked. Chat cleared his throat and tried again, "Really, I'm just a little nervous about your dad after last time."

Marinette let out a soft 'ah' of understanding and her gaze drifted beyond him for a moment, likely thinking about her father's recent akumatization as well. Chat used the opportunity to slide out from under her table and perched on the edge of it instead. Marinette followed, mind still obviously elsewhere.

"I uh… just came to talk to you." _Get it together!_ He snarled at himself, _This is Marinette. Your friend. You can talk to her!_ "To say thank you I mean." Marinette snapped her attention back to him, brow furrowing and eyes blinking. "For today." As she continued to stare without replying Chat found himself reaching up to rub the back of his head self-consciously. "I'm sorry you had to lie for me."

Marinette's brow smoothed and her eyes widened, "Oh! I didn't do it for you. I mean! I did! But, I also didn't because I was worried that the boy I like would think that I liked someone else and–"

"Wait," Chat raised a hand to stop her, "The boy you like? But you said you were in love with me." He could feel the disappointment settling like lead in his stomach. _But wait, she was freezing from Exposure's mistletoe too wasn't she?_

All the color draining from Marinette's face and her hands flew up to cover her mouth. Ever so slowly, she lowered them again. "Chat…" her eyes kept shifting between him and the ground and she was wringing her hand together so tightly that he was surprised she wasn't hurting herself. "I… um…" Marinette's eyes squeezed shut and her shoulders bunched up towards her ears, "I lied to you."

Chat froze, only his tail tip continuing to twitch erratically.

Her eyes sprang open and her hand jumped up in a pleading gesture between them, "I'm sorry! You were talking about seeing me right after Ladybug had taken off because she was going to detransform and since you know that I'm friends with Ladybug I was afraid you were going to ask me who she was and so I panicked and said the first thing that came to mind that I thought would distract you but I didn't really mean it, only apparently I did mean it and I just didn't know I did because when Exposure hit us with her mistletoe I starting freezing immediately and then I realized that I actually do love you but since I also love Adrien I kind of panicked but I knew that Ladybug needed you so you couldn't be frozen and I was hoping that he would never find out about it because then he'll never like me back so I talked you into kissing me and now I don't know what I'm going to do because I love Adrien but I also love you and I can't possibly choose between the two of you but I guess it doesn't matter because there's no way that you or he would be interested in someone who is such a mess and can't even make up her mind..."

Her voice trailed off and Chat was startled to see that unshed tears were shinning in her eyes. "Marinette–"

A slight tremor passed through her body as Marinette turned away from him, "It's fine Chat. I'm sorry. I understand."

His mind was reeling with the information dump that he'd just received, but Chat knew that if he didn't say something now, he risked losing her forever, and that thought was so painful that he knew he couldn't risk it. Shoving his own confusion aside, Chat Noir reached out to take Marinette by the hand and tug her gently back towards him, "Marinette – you're in love with Adrien? Adrien Agreste?" _Wait, what? That's not what I meant to say!_

Her cheeks coloured, but Marinette nodded.

Suddenly, understanding everything she'd said didn't matter. _She loves me!_ All _of me!_ "I don't mind sharing you with him." _What is wrong with me?! Why am I saying such stupid things! How can I make that sound better…_ "I mean, it's only fair. After all, you know that I am also in love with Ladybug, so you'd have to share me too." He hesitated, "Assuming she wants me. But that's an entirely different problem." _Shut up!_

Eyes blown wide, Marinette just stared at him until Chat started to fidget. "Uh… why? How could you be okay with that?"

 _Think!_ Chat wracked his brain for a reasonable answer that wasn't 'because we're the same person!' His ears perked up when he remembered what Plagg had said just before he'd transformed. "Well, people can go on dates to get to know each other better without being exclusive. As long as everyone knows and agrees, there's nothing wrong with it." His free hand came up to cup her cheek tenderly, "Besides, Exposure made me realize that I'm in love with you too. I don't want to be without you, so I'll take whatever you're willing to give me."

"Oh Chat…" His name came out in a fervent whisper and the soft look that she was giving him made Chat want to pull her in close and claim her lips without akuma influence, and for a split-second he almost did. Then his brain caught up to him and he stopped himself, unsure if it was what she wanted.

Then the moment passed and Marinette was jerking her hand away as she spun around, "But I can't ask that of him!" The pitch of her voice raised slightly, "Hey Adrien! I just wanted you to know that I'm in love with you, would you like to go on a date with me? Oh, by the way, I'm also in love with and dating a superhero. I hope that's okay!" She spun back towards him, her face filled with anguish, "He'd either laugh or yell at me!"

Chat felt a strange pang of jealousy towards himself, but pushed it aside. "He really doesn't seem like the type of person to do either of those things Mari."

Marinette swayed and Chat quickly stepped forward to catch and steady her. "Are you okay princess?"

She slowly turned to look up at him, though Chat couldn't decipher the intense look on her face. "Say it again," she whispered.

Brow furrowed, Chat obeyed, "Are you okay princess?"

Her head was shaking before he finished, "No, before that. When you said… when you said my name."

Chat thought for a moment, wondering why him saying her name would have affected her so much. His face slackened as he realized he had unthinkingly shortened it. He could feel the blush creeping into his cheeks. "Mari?"

She shivered slightly, but Chat didn't have time to wonder why before her lips were pressed against his and his thoughts were swept away. A few golden moments later, they pulled away and he leaned down to rest his forehead against hers. Eyes closed, they breathed together in silence for a few heartbeats.

"Sorry," Marinette breathed, "I hope I didn't cross any lines…"

Chat blinked his eyes and pulled back to stare at her, "Sorry? Don't you dare apologize! This cat was just gifted the most delicious cream and doesn't appreciate you besmooching it! Actually, I'd be completely okay with you besmooching me again…" he trailed off with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

Marinette giggled and he relished in the light dusting of pink on her cheeks. "Does that mean you still want to date me? Even if I do love someone else too?"

In answer, Chat leaned down to capture her lips again. _I can never go back to thinking of Marinette as just a friend. How can I convince her to tell me she loves me? Ah!_ Chat pulled back, smiling to himself when Marinette's mouth twisted into a frown, "I wasn't done with you," she grumbled.

"Neither am I," he replied and her eyes popped open in surprise. "But first, I want you to promise me that you'll talk to Adrien. You don't have to tell him who else you're dating if you don't want to. Just make it clear that you're asking him on a single date. No exclusive commitment required." _Please promise…_

Marinette looked thoughtful, "I suppose that could work. _If_ I can get the courage to ask."

Chat laughed, "You? Needing courage? Just use that well of courage that served you so well against Evillustrator. Or me for that matter." He gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "You just admitted to lying to me. Surely asking Adrien on a date can't any worse than that."

"I guess not…" Marinette bit her lip, then tipped her head back to look at him with a mischievous twinkle. "But let's not talk about other people right now. I may have just realized today that I'm in love with you, but I also found out you love me, and I feel like I've wasted enough time denying it."

"As you command purrincess." Marinette raised an eyebrow at him and he decided to test out his new found influence instead, "Or should I say, Mari."

Eyes wide, cheeks pink, Marinette quickly closed the distance between them, interrupting his chuckle with a kiss.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Tikki flew out of her hiding spot to hover beside Marinette, who was watching Chat Noir vaulting away. He was doing far more flips and spins than strictly necessary, likely to impress Marinette. Tikki turned to study Marinette with some concern. Marinette was leaned on the railing and staring after Chat with a dopey grin on her face.

Worry mounting, Tikki finally spoke up, "Marinette? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Her voice was soft and hesitant.

Sighing slightly as she pulled herself from her reverie, Marinette turned to look at her kwami, "Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Well… you did just agree to date Chat Noir. As a civilian. Don't you think that puts both of your identities at risk?"

Marinette shook her head, "Not really. I mean, Alya thought Chloe could be me and we don't look anything alike. Even Chat questioned it. I think that the miraculous magic is good enough to prevent us from seeing through it, especially if we're careful to try not to."

Tikki wasn't convinced. "Then what about the risk of people targeting you because you're dating Chat Noir?"

Marinette pushed off the railing and walked towards her skylight, "Come on Tikki, it's not like we're going to announce it at a press conference. No one is going to know."

"And what about Adrien? You just agreed to ask him on a date."

Marinette froze mid-step. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no! I can't do that! Why did I do that? Tikki! What am I going to do?"

"Um… ask him a on a date?" Tikki suppressed an eye roll.

Marinette's eyes were blown wide like a deer in headlights, "I can't do that!"

Tikki sighed, "Then you're going to have to explain that to Chat next time you see him."

Suddenly, a smile started to spread across Marinette's face and Tikki drifted backwards a bit in apprehension. "Maybe Marinette can't, but Ladybug can!"

"Wait! This won't solve your pro–"

"Tikki! Spots on!"


	9. Night Visit

Ladybug landed lightly on a building across from Agreste Manor. A quick glance around ensured that no one was watching her and Adrien's bedroom light was still on. Gathering her courage, she jumped off the roof and threw her yoyo to swing across to his roof before carefully lowering herself down the side to hang outside his window.

Adrien's back was to her as he stood near his bed. Ladybug hesitated, wondering if she should try another day (perhaps a little earlier in the evening?) when he suddenly jumped as though someone had poked him and spun around to stare at her with disbelieving eyes. Mentally bracing herself, she smiled brightly and waved before gesturing at the window in a silent request for entry.

Adrien blinked at her for a moment before walking quickly towards his table. Ladybug briefly thought he wasn't going to let her in, but then Adrien picked up a remote and pointed it towards her. With the push of a button, the window swung open. He immediately moved towards her, hand extended, to bring her into his room. Ladybug reached out to take it and he pulled gently to bring her across the threshold. Her heart rate spiked for a moment, but she did her best to stay calm and professional as she stepped down to his floor. A flick of the wrist and her yoyo detached itself from the roof and zipped back into her hand before she settled it onto her hip.

"Ladybug! To what do I owe the pleasure?" asked Adrien with a smile.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier today. I didn't want to leave room for any misunderstandings." _Well that sounds formal and awkward…_

Adrien's brow was furrowed in confusion for a moment before his mouth dropped open slightly and a light blush spread across his cheeks. "Ah… you mean the uh… on my school's roof?"

Ladybug fought back her own blush and hoped it was hidden by her mask. "Yes. I – _ahem_ – understand if you don't feel the same way, and I'm very sorry for having kissed you without your permission, but I was hoping that you would be willing to consider getting to know each other better. Maybe we could uh… date?"

"I uh–" Adrien cleared his throat, "Sorry. The kiss was great. I mean I'm fine! I'm fine with you kissing me."

She smiled, trying to act naturally. She was sure something was wrong. Adrien didn't seem to be able to hold her gaze for more than a second or two. "Oh good. I was worried you might be upset with me."

"Never!" Adrien paused, and one hand came up to rub the back of his neck, "I would love to date you, but–"

"Oh it's okay," Ladybug interrupted, slowing backing away toward the window, "I understand. You don't owe me any explanation if you don't want to. I'm glad that we cleared up the kiss." Her heart was throbbing painfully. _Shut up and leave girl!_ "I'll be on my way then. Have a good ni–"

One hand was wrapped around the edge of the open window and her foot was halfway up to the ledge when Adrien's hand closed around her free wrist. She could feel his warmth through her suit. "Wait! It's not that at all! It's just that–" He glanced down to the floor again and Ladybug felt her heart clench. "I'm already dating someone." His eyes snapped back up to hers and she struggled to hide the hurt and jealousy raging inside her. "We already agreed we weren't going to be exclusive, so we're okay with dating other people, but I needed to be honest with you that I am seeing someone else."

A surge of jealousy left her feeling momentarily nauseated and she attempted to will it away. _Chat is willing to share my heart with Adrien, and I have to ask Adrien to share me, so it's only fair that I allow him the same freedom._ Despite the ache in her chest and the roiling in her stomach, she worked to keep her face in a light, friendly smile, "Well I wasn't asking you to be my boyfriend. I'm afraid you're not the only person I'm dating either. I can't expect you to be willing to share my heart if I'm not willing to share yours." She took a deep breath and braced herself, "Kagami is a very lucky girl."

Adrien blinked at her in confusion. "Kagami?"

"The girl you're dating? Isn't that her name?" _Throb._

"Well no…" Adrien's brow was furrowed and he searched her eyes. "Kagami is very nice, and I did take her out on a date, but I felt that dating her would have been unfair while I was still interested in someone else." Adrien's hand slid down to intertwine their fingers and give her hand a light squeeze.

"You were interested in me?" Ladybug's eyes widened, "But– you said you were dating someone."

"Am." At her confused look, he elaborated, "I am interested in you." Adrien dropped his gaze and shifted slightly from foot to foot, but he kept his grip on her hand firm. "I also recently realized that I'm interested in someone else too and she agreed to date me." His head jerked up and his eyes widened in sudden panic, "Uh well, that is… sort of."

Ladybug arched an eyebrow in silent question, then realized he wouldn't be able to see it under her mask. "What do you mean 'sort of'?"

"Well– I _want_ to date her and I'm hoping that she'll ask me out. I think she's going to. That is…" His hand went back to rubbing the back of his neck and his eyes dropped back to the floor, "She told a mutual friend that she was going to."

Non-plussed, Ladybug just stared at him for a few minutes. Finally, her need for order and action kicked in and she released the window, turned to face him squarely, and cocked her hip to the side with her free hand resting on it. "You _think_ she's going to? If you like her then why don't _you_ ask _her_ out?" _What are you doing? Are you trying to set him up with someone else? Idiot!_

"I– I can't."

Ladybug waited, but Adrien remained silent. Exasperated, she narrowed her eyes slightly and was rewarded with a visible swallow from Adrien when he glanced up at her. "And _why_ exactly can't you?"

Adrien sighed and his shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "I can't because I make her nervous. She is constantly mixing up words and tripping over her own feet when she's around me, but I like her for her confidence and spunky attitude, but she almost never acts that way around me. I'm concerned that if I ask her out she'll never overcome her shyness and nerves and then I won't get to date her, just the giggly girl who can't even talk to me."

Ladybug froze for a moment in surprise. _Could he mean m– no. Don't get your hopes up. Unless he knows Chat… Stop it! Deal with the now!_ She pulled her hand free and took a step in to wrap her arms around him. "You are the most incredible person I've ever met."

Adrien stiffened, but she kept her arms around him until he relaxed and hugged her back. "Not really. Don't you think it's selfish of me to try to force her to be someone she can't be around me? I mean, maybe if I asked her out then she'd be able to relax because then she would know that I like her."

Pulling back just enough to look up into his eyes, Ladybug gave him a soft smile. "No, I think you're right. It sounds like you are looking out for both of you. I mean, it would be pretty awkward to date someone who can't even talk to you." _Am I just saying that because if he doesn't ask her out and she can't work up the courage to ask him out then I get him all to myself? Unless it is me… Focus!_

His hands slid smoothly across the back of her suit to her elbows, then down her arms to catch her hands, which he squeezed gently before releasing one and turning towards his room. His free hand gestured towards the couch and a light blush crept onto his face. "We don't really get many opportunities to talk to each other, maybe we could get to know each other better. Do you have some time now? We could sit down and chat for a while…" He tugged ever so gently on her hand.

An uncontrollable smile spread across her face and Ladybug gladly walked past him so that she was now pulling Adrien towards his couch. "I think I can do that."

As they neared the couch, she hesitated, unsure again. _Should I sit first? Do I pick a corner or the middle? What if he sits at the opposite end of the couch from me? What if he has a preferred spot to sit in and I take it?_ She glanced up at Adrien in question to see him smiling and gesturing for her to sit. Deciding to ignore her nerves and take charge, Ladybug settled into the middle of the couch, gently guiding Adrien by their clasped hands to sit beside her in order to keep him close. Once he was sitting, Adrien pulled his hand free just long enough to shift his hand so that he could gently rub his thumb across the back of hers. Ladybug suppressed a shiver.

"So we should probably stay away from any potential identity revealing information…" Adrien mused, his eyes on her hand. A few heartbeats of silence passed and Ladybug was starting to wonder if this may have been a terrible idea after all. What _was_ safe to talk about? "How about this," he raised his head, "What's your favorite part of being Ladybug?"

Ladybug straightened and blinked a few times. "Well, I've never really thought about it…"

"No? But you have so much freedom as a superhero! Everyone admires you." Sincerity and awe rang in his voice and Ladybug felt herself blushing. The corner of his mouth twitched, "And you get to work with Chat Noir."

She laughed and relaxed again. "Truthfully?" Adrien nodded. "Well, I don't usually think about what I enjoy because it's such a big responsibility. I'm not Ladybug because I want the attention or because I'm anything special really. I was given a job to do and the tools to do it, so that's what I'm going to do."

Adrien tipped his head slightly to one side and his eyes were thoughtful, "I guess I can understand that. It's not the same type of responsibilities, but there are a lot of expectations that I have to meet, so sometimes it's easy to forget that what I'm doing can be fun too. Like fencing, or playing the piano." His thumb stilled and he squeezed her hand again, "So think about it now. What are the fun parts of being Ladybug?"

She laughed again lightly, "Okay. Fun parts. Let's see…" Ladybug reached up with her free hand to tap her lips and she couldn't help but notice that his eyes followed her finger. She smirked slightly, "Well it is fun when I get attention from the boy that I like." Adrien's face went bright red and she wanted to reach out to bop his nose like she did to Chat Noir, but she didn't think either of them were ready for that sort of casual touch just yet. He mumbled something she didn't catch and she ran her own thumb across his knuckles in reassurance. "I guess I like flying through the air with my yoyo. The moment after I release my yoyo and before I throw it to the next anchor – when I'm suspended, weightless, for just a moment – it's incredible. I don't know how to describe it. It's like…" she paused, searching for words, "For just a moment, I'm free from the restraints of the world. Free from gravity and expectations and responsibilities, just disconnected and unaffected by everything around me." She gazed past Adrien, not really seeing him or his room anymore. The silence stretched until the sound of a car horn through the still open window woke her from her reverie. "Sorry." She attempted to pull back slightly, but Adrien tightened his grip on her hand to keep her close.

"That sounds amazing." His voice was soft and reverent. "You always seem so focused and driven– it's nice to know that you get moments of freedom too."

She shrugged self-consciously, "They don't last long."

Adrien shook his head and shifted a little closer to her, "That doesn't matter." His eyes dropped to their joined hands again and she could see the sudden stiffness in his shoulders. "I– I don't get a lot of freedom. My friends say they understand, but they can't. Not really." He looked up to her, eyes wide and vulnerable and Ladybug felt her heart clench in sympathy. "I know it's not the same thing as being responsible for saving Paris on a daily basis, but I feel as though I'm always wearing the "Agreste" mask. Everything I do and say reflects on my father, and if I want to keep the privileges I've earned like going to school then I have to make sure that I'm always playing the part of the perfect son." He sighed.

Unwilling to deny him comfort, Ladybug scooted closer until she could wrap her right arm around his waist and lean her head against his. "I do understand. Being Ladybug is very similar. Everything I do is being judged. If I don't catch the akuma or do my job fast enough or well enough there are always people ready to criticize me. And then they seem to think that they have some kind of right to me as a person. They want to know who I am without the mask and what I do in my personal life." She felt her own blush heat her cheeks, "Or who I love." She cleared her throat and glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, "I guess you can relate to that part too, being a model."

Adrien laughed softly, "All too well mila-" he interrupted himself with a forced cough. "Ladybug. Sorry, I know Chat calls you milady all the time, so I probably shouldn't."

"I don't mind, but Chat probably would." They sat in an awkward silence for a moment and Ladybug imagined Adrien calling her 'milady'. An uncomfortable feeling pricked up her spine and she gave herself a small shake. "On second thought, I don't think I would do well with that either. I'm sorry, it's just– it's Chat's name for me and having someone else call me that would just feel wrong. Besides," she slid her arm back from around his waist so she could rest her hand on his knee and give it a gentle squeeze, "I like Chat, but I don't want to be thinking about him when I'm with you."

Adrien pulled his head away from hers to lock eyes. His eyes flicked down to her lips and Ladybug felt her heart flutter. "May I?" He leaned in slightly in anticipation and she could only nod silently in agreement.

His lips were soft and gentle against hers. The kiss was short and sweet, yet somehow hinted at all the layers that made up the "mask" Adrien had to wear. She looked forward to peeling them back in order to really get to know the incredible boy in front of her.

With a small smile that she couldn't suppress, Ladybug settled back into the soft cushions of the couch, ready to talk and enjoy Adrien's company for as long as he'd let her stay. With any luck, she'd get to see under some of those layers too.


	10. Face to Face

***So remember how I said I should be able to update more frequently? Yeah... let's just say I kind of feel like I'm living inside a snow globe that someone decided to shake _really_ well. And then do it again. Anyhow, after far too long, here's the next chapter! Just to be clear, I am absolutely continuing to work on this story. I can make no promises about how frequently I'll be able to update, but it is still very much alive. My sincere apologies for the delay and thanks for the comments, likes and follows. I hope you enjoy!***

* * *

Alya shifted her weight to one foot as she scanned through the LadyBlog on her phone, reading through the many comments that kept appearing in response to her footage of Ladybug and Chat Noir kissing. She glanced up periodically, waiting for Nino to arrive so they could walk to class together. With no sign of Nino she dropped her eyes back down to her phone before freezing and jerking her head back up again in shock. She blinked a few times to be sure she wasn't imagining things, then glanced down at her phone to check the time, wondering if she'd lost track of a half hour or so.

The popping sound of a jaw-cracking yawn in front of her brought Alya's gaze back up to focus on Marinette, who had just come to a stop, failing miserably at hiding her yawn or her drooping eyes.

"So that's how you managed to be on time today," Alya chuckled. "Did you get _any_ sleep last night girl?" A sly grin slipped across Alya's face as she nudged Marinette with her elbow, "Or were you too busy reliving your kiss with Adrien?"

Marinette squeaked and turned bright red, somehow managing to appear embarrassed, excited, nervous and proud all at the same time. "N-no! I was just talking to– ah… er… myself…" she trailed off, not quite meeting Alya's eyes.

Alya's eyebrow rose in silent disbelief and Marinette squirmed under her gaze. "Right. We'll pretend I believe you. You know you couldn't lie your way out of a paper bag right?" She shook her head, not expecting a response.

Eyes darting away from her, Marinette shifted from foot to foot and hitched her bag a little higher on her shoulders. Just as Alya was about to speak again, Marinette let out a strangled squawk, turned pale and tripped over nothing _while standing still_. Alya was so startled that she couldn't even react to try and help her friend, merely blinking in astonishment as Marinette flailed her arms and her face rushed towards the ground.

Fortunately, someone else was far more responsive that Alya. Adrien swept in, catching Marinette and simultaneously scooping her up into his arms. He flashed her a bright smile with an almost mischievous edge which disappeared so quickly Alya wondered if she had imagined it. "Careful there purri-etty slippery today Marinette!"

Alya narrowed her eyes at him. Though she wasn't sure what he'd started to say, she was quite sure it wasn't a comment on the slipperiness of the sidewalk. Especially since it wasn't slippery. At all. However Adrien seemed oblivious to her scrutiny. "Nice save Agreste," she said.

Adrien stiffened and quickly but carefully placed Marinette back on her feet. While he seemed to relax again immediately, Alya couldn't help but notice that he held himself a little more formally. Or more accurately, he had been behaving a little less formally than usual until she had spoken. "My pleasure. I'm always happy to help a friend."

Seeing the rounding of Marinette's shoulders and lowering of her head to hide the disappointment in her eyes made Alya want to reach out and shake Adrien until he opened his eyes to what was in front of him. Instead, she tucked away her phone and sidled up beside Marinette to give her shoulder a friendly and comforting squeeze. Marinette offered her a small smile in return.

"Dude!" Alya breathed a sigh of relief. Nino's arrival was perfectly timed to diffuse the awkwardness. "I never did get the chance to say anything to you yesterday after the akuma and you didn't answer any of my texts last night!" Nino stopped a step away from Adrien with his fist extended, twisting just enough to wink at Marinette, "That was some kiss my man!"

Alya facepalmed. _So much for diffusing the awkwardness…_ she mentally grumbled. When she raised her eyes again it was to see that Marinette's colour had returned to a bright red and Adrien's cheeks were now dusted with the lightest of pinks as he snuck a glance at Marinette. "Ah… well…"

Nino didn't give him a chance to finish, dropping his hand as Adrien clearly wasn't going to return his fist bump, "I mean, I thought you were never going to realize! So I guess that Akuma did us all at least one favour right dude?" Nino winked as he nudged Adrien.

Thankfully, Alya's brain had caught back up to the present, so she hurried to intervene before Nino could say anything to make the situation even worse. "Oh no! There's the bell!" She jumped forward, grabbing Nino by the wrist as she did and swinging him around to follow her, "We're going to be late for class!"

"Whoa babe! I didn't hear anything! I'm sure we've got time, chill!" Nino pulled back against her, but Alya wasn't giving in. With a firm tug, she jerked him into a trot behind her.

"No, I'm quite sure it's _time for us to go babe_." She cast him a look over her shoulder, eyes narrowed to make a point and Nino immediately blinked in surprise and confusion. Alya could she the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out why she was annoyed at him. Brow creasing with worry, she glanced past her boyfriend to her best friend who looked torn between betrayal and gratitude. When their eyes met, Marinette jumped slightly, then stuttered out something to Adrien before following them, Adrien staring after her with a look Alya couldn't interpret before falling in behind her.

With a sigh, Alya faced forward again just in time to descend the stairs to the main courtyard, wondering if Marinette and Adrien's mistletoe encounter had in fact made matters worse.

* * *

Needing a moment to herself, Marinette broke away from the others with an incomprehensible mumble. Checking to make sure no one was following her, she slipped into the locker room and hurried to her locker. Marinette swung her bag to the floor and crouched down, pretending to sort through the books in her locker while in reality closing her eyes and trying to take calming breaths. After a few moments, she become aware that her breathing was in fact speeding up to the point that she was nearly hyperventilating.

"Marinette–" A soft touch brushed her cheek.

She screamed and tumbled backwards, arms flailing wildly. The room went silent and all eyes turned to her. Wishing that the floor would open up and swallow her, or an akuma would appear (s _cratch that, then she'd have to face Chat Noir_ ), or she'd never gotten out of bed that morning, much less come to school, Marinette forced a nervous laugh and stood up, shifting back towards her locker. "Sorry! I thought I saw a spider."

Rose shuddered, "I would have screamed too!" She quickly closed her own locker and edged towards the door, "I think I'll head to class, just in case you were right. Bye!"

The remaining students returned to their tasks, some of them snickering at her, but Marinette barely registered it before hiding behind her locker door again. "Sorry Tikki," she whispered.

The kwami floated back up to hug her cheek, "It's okay Marinette. But you do need to find a way to calm down before you get to class."

She groaned in reply, " _Why_ did you let me go see him as Ladybug? That was a _terrible_ idea! Now I'm dating him and he doesn't _know_ that I'm dating him and he talked to me about so many personal things that _I_ shouldn't know about and I have to pretend that I _don't_ know about and some how act normal around him but I _promised_ Chat that I would ask Adrien out today and he's going to think I _lied_ or _chickened out_ because he doesn't know that I'm Ladybug but I can't _possibly_ act _normal_ around Adrien and it's not like my version of normal is even _remotely_ normal anyways and–" Marinette cut herself off mid rant when she opened her eyes to look at Tikki and see her kwami's disapproving look. She wilted, "Okay okay, I know you tried to stop me. I'm _sorry_. But _what am I going to do?!_ " her voice was plaintive and demanding and she just barely managed to keep it low enough to avoid attracting more attention.

"Truthfully? I have never had a Ladybug manage to get them-self into a situation like this before." Tikki's eyes were wide and sympathetic, but Marinette was sure she could detect a hint of amusement there as well. She groaned again and let her head fall forward to hit the shelf in her locker.

"I'm such an idiot…" she moaned.

"Girl! There you are!" Tikki vanished into her purse as Marinette jerked upright again and spun around to see Alya walking towards her. "You do realize that you got to school half an hour early only to waste it in the locker room so that you're now late again right?"

Marinette eeped in horror and scooped her bag off the floor, slamming her locker shut, unsure whether she'd actually managed to grab any of the textbooks she actually needed but too panicked to care at the moment.

Alya shook her head as she jogged beside Marinette, "Seriously girl, are you going to be okay?" Marinette shook her head frantically, though she wasn't entirely sure if she was answering Alya's question. Alya reached out her hand to grab and squeeze her best friend's in comfort, "I'm sorry for bringing up your kiss with Adrien." She suddenly stopped, pulling Marinette to a halt beside her and swinging her around so they were face to face. "You know what? You need a girl's night. My place tonight. You and me. No boys, no talk about boys, no pictures of boys. Just BFFs hanging out and relaxing. Got it?"

A small smile broke through Marinette's panic, "Okay." She hesitated, her smile falling away again. "Um, Alya?"

"Yeah girl?"

"Could you do me a really big favour and make sure I'm not alone with Adrien at all today?" She felt a twinge of guilt because of her promise to Chat, but Marinette just couldn't face Adrien today.

Alya's grin was bright and reassuring, "I've got you covered girl."

* * *

Adrien was disappointed. And really, disappointed didn't even begin to cover how he was feeling. All the progress that he had made with Marinette since they first met appeared to have been wiped out in a single day ( _well, a couple minutes really since he was sure he could pinpoint the_ exact _moment that triggered her regression_ ). While she had never quite managed to be her confident, sassy self around him, Marinette had managed to nearly stop stuttering, instead being able to carry on perfectly normal conversations. Most of the time. They had worked on school projects together, hung out with friends, gone to a movie wearing ridiculous disguises, run away from his rabid fans… And now… He sighed in resignation. If only he hadn't kissed her yesterday. Of course, if he hadn't then he likely wouldn't have realized how he felt about her. Not to mention that they would have both been turned to ice sculptures and then he wouldn't have been able to help Ladybug save Paris and Hawkmoth may have succeeded in capturing their miraculouses…

He glanced over his shoulder again, trying to see if Marinette had calmed down yet. She hadn't managed a single word to him since before school started when she'd rushed off after Alya and Nino. Her eyes met his and she immediately flushed bright red, dropping her tablet with a bang onto her desk and sending her stylus flying across the room where it hit Mylène, somehow managing to snag itself in her dreadlocks. Nino snickered.

"Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng!" barked Mme. Mendeliev, "If you continue to disrupt this class I will send you to the principal's office and you will complete your assignment after school. _Am I clear?_ "

Marinette nodded sheepishly, rising from her desk to take back her stylus from Mylène, who had successfully detangled it from her hair.

"Dude," whispered Nino, edging closer to Adrien for a moment, "You'd better stop checking her out or you're going to get her in trouble."

Adrien flushed as red as Marinette and hurriedly turned back to his own tablet and worksheet. He didn't even bother to correct Nino's assumption. He hadn't wanted to check her out, he just wanted her to be able to talk to him.

Any hopes he'd had of improved opportunities at lunch time were quickly dashed as Alya bundled Marinette off to her bakery and his bodyguard pulled up to the front door: with everything else going on he'd forgotten he had a photo shoot that afternoon. Suppressing another sigh, he said goodbye to Nino and headed out to climb into the waiting car.

Safely hidden behind the tinted windows, Adrien slumped down in dejection, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. That wasn't at all how he'd hoped his day would go.


	11. Girls’Night

It was with an odd sense of relief mixed with disappointment that Marinette returned to school after lunch to find that Adrien was gone and wouldn't be returning for the rest of the day. Resolved not to dwell on it, Marinette set herself to a razor sharp focus on her classes in an effort to get ahead of her homework so she'd be able to enjoy her evening with Alya. Her parents had approved it so long as her homework was completed and she was home before ten, so it was with relief that she finished her chemistry worksheet in the library during study hall.

The final bell brought Alya to her side immediately, "Let's go girl! We've got homework to do if we want to have any fun tonight."

"Way ahead of you," said Marinette as she scooped her papers and books into her bag and stood with a bright smile, "I just finished my last assignment. All that's left is the storyboard presentation for Mme. Bustier, and that's not due for another month."

Alya mock scowled at her, "That's not fair! I still have to do Mme. Mendeliev's chem worksheet and those 50 word problems."

Marinette smacked her face with her palm, "I forgot about the word problems!" she moaned, "Are you sure they're due tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah. Unless tomorrow isn't Tuesday."

Grumbling under her breath, Marinette redirected her footsteps to the locker room so she could pick up her math textbook. Alya trailed behind her, shaking her head with a half smile, "Marinette, Marinette, Marinette... how could you forget so quickly? She just reminded us about it this morning."

A blush crept it's way up her neck, "Uh... was that when I accidentally lost my stylus?"

A burst of laughter made Marinette's blush deepen. "Yeah, I guess it was. Girl, sometimes you amaze me."

Feigning annoyance, Marinette flounced to her locker to open it, but her act was ruined when she managed to trip over a shoe that someone had left on the floor. Some quick arm flailing saved her from a face plant, but she couldn't help but join in with Alya's laughter. "Alright, alright! Let's just get what we need and get out of here then okay?"

Alya just grinned at her.

* * *

A few hours of dedicated work later and their homework was done. Alya lay sprawled across her bed with her head hanging off the edge, looking at Marinette upside down where she lay on her stomach on the floor with her feet crossed in the air above her, staring into space with a troubled expression.

"Alright!" Alya flipped over and twisted to sit up on her bed, clapping her hands together. Marinette jumped and let out a squeak. "Who's ready for... Challenge Time!" Alya reached down to pull a notebook out from under her bed, waving it at Marinette. She smiled to herself when she saw Marinette's anxiety start to fade.

"Oh? You have a challenge for me?" asked Marinette, pushing herself up to set cross-legged.

"You betcha!" Alya tossed the pink notebook to Marinette, who just managed to snag it with the tips of her fingers. "Tonight's challenge is... Pockets!"

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "Pockets?"

"Yep!" She narrowed her eyes and widened her grin, "Specifically, hidden pockets in formal wear."

Her pencil tapped against her lower lip as her eyes shifted out of focus again, "Hmm..."

"Wait!" Alya said, extending a hand to reclaim Marinette's attention, "This challenge is broken into three parts! Your first piece is a classic men's suit, but instead of adding pockets, cause really, there's already what, eight or nine in a typical suit right?" she shook her head in mock disgust, "You only need to have five pockets, but they all need to be hidden." With great formality, Alya straightened herself to look down on Marinette with the straightest face she could manage, "Do you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, accept your challenge?"

Lips twitching, Marinette also straightened up and struggled to look formal, "I accept!" Humming slightly to herself, Marinette's eyes slipped away for a moment while she thought. Alya felt a twinge of anticipation as she waited for her own challenge. A devious smile spread across Marinette's face and Alya felt her anticipation shift into apprehension. "Alright Mademoiselle, your challenge is also in three parts. You will right three articles, each about a famous individual with an unusual quirk. But!" She held up a finger in emphasis, "You must provide three sources for all information that you include. Do you accept your challenge Alya Cesare?"

"I do!" A giggle escaped her, "I'll write as many articles as you want girl." Alya hopped off her bed and made her way to her desk she should would have better access to her computer. "And who is my first subject?"

"Clara Nightingale and her habit of rhyming everything."

Alya let out a pfft of amusement, "Please, I thought this was supposed to be challenging!"

Marinette laughed, "Oh just wait for it..."

"Then we've got..." Alya pulled out her phone to check the time and quickly calculate how long they could allow for each challenge and still get Marinette home in time for curfew. A few taps later and she was ready to start their timer, "Half an hour. And... go!"

She saw Marinette's pencil begin to fly across the page before turning to her computer with a smile, ready to research and write.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Alya was grumbling to herself as she searched for sources to back up Lila's anecdote about how she'd inspired Clara to add constant rhyming to her regular conversations. She suppressed a growl and glanced up at Marinette who was still absorbed in her design. She'd promised no boy talk tonight, so bringing up Lila when Marinette was clearly still jealous of her over Adrien was not an option. With a soft sigh, she deleted her last paragraph, then went back to change her search terms.

Results started filling in immediately. Scores of early interviews where Clara had been repeatedly asked about her constant rhyming and dancing all gave the same answer: Clara had always enjoyed rhyming games as a child and struggled with sitting still for any length of time. After being diagnosed with ADHD, her parents had started using dancing and rhyming as coping methods to direct her excess energy and keep her focused and controlled.

Brow furrowed, Alya blinked at her screen in confusion for a minute. She must have mixed up her story a bit. Maybe Lila just meant that she'd helped Clara come up with more rhymes so that she'd be able to continue rhyming. Doing it constantly must be exhausting! With a quick mental shake, Alya brought herself back to her article and had just finished citing her sources when the alarm sounded. "Time!" she called as she spun to face Marinette again.

Marinette hesitated, pencil hovering over something she was clearly considering changing. "Mari..." Alya said, raising an eyebrow. With a sigh, Marinette lowered her hand without marking her paper.

"Alright," Marinette studying her sketch for a just a moment before carefully turning the page and looking up. Her eyes slid to one side again and Alya waited in amusement for her friend to come up with her next subject. "Um..." Marinette paused, then met Alya's gaze with a smile, "Challenge number two! Same rules, new subject: Jagged Stone and his pets."

Alya rolled her eyes again, "You really are determined to make this easy aren't you?" Marinette merely smiled, and Alya felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Something about Marinette's smile was off. It wasn't quite as friendly as usual. Brushing it off as part of her friend's competitive nature, Alya shrugged her shoulders, "Alright then, your second design – oh BFF of mine – is a formal gown to match the suit you just made, but! It must have just as many pockets as the suit."

Marinette was non-plussed, "You want me to discreetly hide five pockets in a dress?"

"Yep!" A few quick taps to reset the timer on her phone and Alya looked up with a smile, her finger hovering over the start button, "And go!"

Alya noted with satisfaction that Marinette's brow furrowed as she refocused on her new blank page before turning back to her computer to begin her own challenge. One quick search later brought up dozen of results about Jagged Stone's infamous pet crocodile. And 15 minutes passed quickly while she wrote it up.

Next, the kitten! New search entered, Alya eagerly began scanning through the results, but her excitement ebbed quickly as she reached the fourth page without any useful hits. Finally, a video link caught her eye and Alya eagerly followed it, slipping in an earbud so as not to disturb Marinette.

Nadja's face filled the screen, "So Jagged, while your fans are all familiar with Fang, they have been wondering... have you ever had any other pets? Maybe a cat or a dog? Or maybe a hamster?"

Jagged recoiled slightly, his arm sliding off the back of the couch, "You're joking right? Cats and dogs are totally not rock 'n roll! Why on earth would I want one? And what would I do with something tiny like a hamster? You need something big to really capture the spirit of rock 'n roll! A tiger would be kinda rock 'n roll, but can you imagine the mess from the fur? No, Fang's the only one for me!"

Alya stopped the video and rewound, watching it twice more before finding herself just staring at the now black screen. But what about Lila? An uncomfortable feeling started to nudge the back of her mind and she flashed a look back over her shoulder to Marinette, Could I be wrong about Marinette's dislike of her?

A sudden buzzing noise broke her thoughts, causing Alya to jump and nearly fall out of her chair. Trying to be non-challent, she quickly closed her browser window and hit the Stop button on her phone. As she turned to Marinette she was relieved to see her friend was still looking at her sketch, though she had put down her pencil. Alya cleared her throat nervously and tried to act normal as her heart rate gradually evened out.

"Last challenge!" Marinette's head came up, eyes narrowed, having obviously detected something off in her voice. Alya quietly cleared her throat again and started over, "Last challenge. A man's formal skirt with pockets!"

Alya cheered internally as she successfully distracted her friend. "That's not exactly mainstream..." Marinette slowly flipped to a new page in her notebook.

"Ah, girl? Forgetting something?" Marinette blinked in surprise and Alya laughed, "What about my challenge?"

A faint blush crept onto Marinette's cheeks, "Right. Uh..." She tapped her pencil against her nose for a moment. "Prince Ali of Achu and his charitable projects."

Alya tipped her head to the side and grinned, "Running out of ideas? I don't think charitable projects qualify as a 'quirk'."

Marinette shrugged, "Then consider it an easy challenge."

Shaking her head as she turned back to her computer, Alya reached out to restart their timer, "Your funeral. I think I'm going to win tonight's challenge hands down!" Even with an obviously incomplete article in the middle...

A few easy searches turned up more articles than Alya could handle to corroborate Prince Ali's many charitable efforts across his travels and she easily composed a thorough article. Glancing at the timer to see ten minutes remaining, Alya hesitated. She didn't need the extra material, but it would be nice to get some corroboration of one of Lila's stories to show Marinette, and if any of them would be documented, surely her work with Prince Ali would qualify!

Mind made up, she hunkered down again and resumed her searching. Eight minutes later, she was torn between screaming and pulling out her hair. Despite Lila's video calls to the class providing her exact dates for Lila's involvement with Prince Ali, Alya couldn't find anything. Finally, she removed Lila's name from her search parameters and began searching simply for Prince Ali's whereabouts on the days in question. As Lila had said, Prince Ali did return the same day as their video conference, but his official schedule showed that he had been gone from Achu before Lila's supposed arrival, and during his absence had managed to catch a nasty flu which confined him to his castle for the next week and curtailed all of his direct involvement in charity work for the next two months.

Well Lila wouldn't have known that he was sick yet right? So they could have been planning to work together and then his flu just got in the way... Alya scowled at her computer. Though her reasoning was sound, it didn't feel right, and if she couldn't trust her gut than how was she going to manage being a journalist?

Resigned, Alya looked back down at her phone just in time to catch the timer go off. "I don't know Alya, I don't think your challenge was as hard as you think it was. I might need to actually make one or two of these." Alya turned to see Marinette stretched herself out and rolling her head from side to side. Catching her gaze, Marinette flashed her a bright smile and Alya felt a small pang of guilt, followed by a flash of irritation. Could Marinette have been trying to turn Alya against Lila with her challenge? "Alya?" Blinking in surprise, Alya realized Marinette was now looking at her with concern. "Is everything okay?"

She slapped her thighs, using the mild sting to help ground herself, Marinette wouldn't do that... Right? Of course not! I think... "Uh... well then let's see them!"

Alya resolutely pushed aside her concerns as she picked up her laptop and crossed the room to sit on her bed. Marinette pulled herself up beside her and they both leaned back against the wall before exchanging notebook for laptop.

"I was going to redo the Zoot suit, but they really aren't formal you know? So I went with a Mandarin collar suit instead, and the high neck kind of became my major tie-in between the outfits," Marinette said, pointing to the suit's neckline.

"Hush!" said Alya, waved a hand at Marinette to silence her, "I'm supposed to get to do my own evaluation!"

Marinette giggled and settled back with Alya's laptop, "Sorry!"

Smiling to herself, Alya waited for a moment to ensure Marinette was actually reading before focusing her attention of the sketches in front of her. Double-breasted... high neck... reversed and hidden pockets... Alya gave a quick glance over Marinette's side notes, seeing her choice of a charcoal silk fabric with glossy silver buttons. "Gray?"

Marinette glanced up at her, smiled broadly, "Of course! The silk is for the luxury factor, but by using gray instead of black I can maintain the formality but give it a bit of character so that you wouldn't blend in with every other guy in a suit!"

Alya laughed, "Of course." She studied it for a few more minutes – noting the seams running down the front and back of the pants instead of the sides – while she waited for Marinette to finish reading, "This really is gorgeous girl. I hope it's one of the ones you're thinking of making."

Marinette shrugged, "Maybe. If I can find someone to wear it."

Alya grabbed Marinette's shoulder to get her attention, not speaking until their eyes were locked, "Girl, if you can't find a guy to wear it, I will." Alya held her gaze for a few moments before they both burst out into giggles.

"Okay, okay!" Marinette held her breath for a few seconds to calm herself, "Awesome work on your Clara article! I had no idea that she had ADHD! I mean it makes sense with her inability to stay still, but I didn't realize the rhyming was actually a coping method. That's pretty cool! Where did you find all this?"

Alya shrugged, "Research. Making me source hunt was surprisingly informative." Alya couldn't help but notice Marinette's quickly suppressed smile, but she brushed it off as her imagination. Mostly.

"Okay," said Marinette, "But what I really want your opinion on is the dress!" She flipped the page with the suit, revealing her coordinating dress and Alya let out a gasp as her eyes flew wide. She saw Marinette grinning out of the corner of her eye as she switched to the next article on Alya's computer.

Her finger traced the silhouette of the dress, cataloging the mix of elements: Halter top neckline, but with elbow-length sleeves... a-line floor length dress, but layered with an knee-length asymmetrical over dress... – she checked Marinette's notes – wine and charcoal, chiffon and satin... more reversed hidden pockets... "Wait a second–" Marinette looked up from the laptop as Alya frowned, "There are only four pockets on here!"

Marinette leaned towards her a bit, "Four pockets, yes." She grinned and pointed to the bottom of the dress, "But there are two pouches hidden at the hem of the dress, one on either side. Which frankly gives more storage space than any pocket ever could. Lipstick, tampons, keys... anything bulky really," she said with a self-depreciating shrug.

Alya was nodding slowly, "Nice work girl. I'd like to change my suit order to a dress order please..." Marinette laughed and leaned back against the wall again.

There was a moment of silence as Marinette looked back to the computer and Alya continued to admire the dress. "Um... Alya?" Alya pulled her eyes up to look at Marinette, who was biting her lip. "Did you run out of time on this one?" Marinette asked.

Trying to suppress a grimace, Alya glanced over at the computer screen to see her incredibly short Jagged Stone article. "Ah – er... kinda?" Marinette raised an eyebrow and Alya sagged a bit. "I was having trouble finding sources for the rest of what I wanted to write."

Brow crinkled, Marinette blinked at her for a moment. "You had trouble finding sources? I was pretty sure Jagged and Fang were very well documented." She grinned slightly, "That and his previous attempts to adopt some other er– rock and roll animals..."

"Yeah..." Alya looked away, stomach churning slightly. Was it an act? Or did Marinette really not think about Lila's rescue of Jagged's cat? She struggled for a chipper voice, "Okay, last one. Show me your man skirt!"

The grin faded from her face as Marinette studied her for a moment before reaching over to take the notebook. She hesitated fro a moment before resolutely flipping the page, "This one was hard." She glanced at Alya, who kept her eyes focused on the notebook. With a small sigh, Marinette held out the notebook towards her, slowly flipping page after page of abandoned skirt ideas. "I tried a kilt, a hanfu, a fustanella..." she sighed, "but they all looked out of place with the jacket and I really wanted to keep it with the style of the other two pieces so that it could be considered an alternative to the suit pants. I finally decided my best bet was to use a basic long skirt, like with a woman's military mess uniform. It let me keep the same pocket locations and I added overlapping knee slits to the double seems on the back for mobility." Marinette shrugged, "It's okay. I mean, I like how it turned out well enough, but it isn't really ground breaking you know?"

Pulling the book onto her own lap, Alya tapped her chin as she examined the man's skirt, "What if you made the skirt the same wine colour as the dress? Obviously not made out of chiffon anymore, but it might make it a bit more interesting."

Marinette blinked twice and twisted her head to consider her drawing, "That could work... though the silk might be a bit much that way... maybe worsted wool? I'd have to think about that..."

Realizing that she was losing her friend to the design craze again, Alya laughed and flipped the sketch book up to break Marinette's line of sight, "Hold on a second there girl! You haven't looked at my last article yet!"

"Oh!" Marinette blushed, "Right. Sorry, I got a bit carried away." She turned the computer towards Alya so she could pull up the last article, "Please proceed!"

Alya shook her head and laughed as she pulled up the article about Prince Ali and turned it back to Marinette. Alya waited silently, trying hard not to think about the link between Marinette's three choices of subject and Lila. It wasn't working very well.

"You're right Alya," said Marinette as she lifted her head to smile at her friend, "I did give you a bit of a freebie with this one. It looks like you had information and sources to spare for Prince Ali!"

"Thank you," said Alya primly. A moment later they both burst into laughter. Alya was the first to calm down, unable to completely banish her lingering suspicions about Marinette's motives. I will not ask. I will not ask. I will NOT ask!

"Okay, that's it." Alya's head snapped around with wide eyes to look at Marinette. "Something is eating at you. Spill." Marinette stared at her with narrowed eyes, awaiting her response. Alya opened her mouth to answer, then stopped herself. "Alya..." Marinette growled.

She searched her friend's eyes, trying to decide what, if anything she should say. Finally, common sense kicked in, "I'm sorry girl, I said we wouldn't talk about boys at all tonight, but I have to ask you something..."

The silence was oppressive and Alya swallowed nervously, watching as Marinette's expression shifted to become wary. "If this is about me freaking out around Adrien today–"

"No, no!" Alya quickly interrupted, "That's not it. It's not actually about a boy at all. It's just connected to a boy."

Marinette's wary look disappeared, transforming into complete confusion and the tension in Alya's room dropped a few notches. With a deep breath, Alya decided to just spit it out.

"Was your challenge for me about Lila?"


	12. Lies?

**Gasp! Another update? I am trying to make my updates more regular again, and I have been writing, but I'm not going to promise anything specific at the moment except that the next chapter is in progress. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone and thanks for reading!**

* * *

Marinette just stared at her best friend, Alya's question repeating through her mind: _Was your challenge for me about Lila?_ She blinked. She had been expecting Alya to question her spaz around Adrien today (though maybe that really wasn't that unusual), or to question her about Lila's picture of her with Chat Noir. Or maybe ask if she was still interested in Luka. When she finally wrapped her head around Alya's actual question, she couldn't contain the burst of laughter that escaped.

Alya looked startled by her laughter, but the relief was too strong, and so it only made her laugh harder. "S– sor– sorry!" she finally managed to choke out, but all other communication remained beyond her.

"I'd really like to know what so funny about this..." muttered Alya.

"It – it isn't," laughed Marinette, "It's – it's not – funny!"

Alya scowled, "Then why exactly are you laughing?"

Sucking in a deep breath and holding it for a count of ten, Marinette finally managed to get herself under control. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She held her breath again for a few more seconds to be sure she wasn't going to start laughing again, then blinked rapidly and wiped at her eyes, "I was laughing because I thought you were going to ask me about Adrien or Luka or Ch–" she quickly cut herself off before causing the interrogation she wanted to avoid most of all. Fortunately, Alya didn't seem to notice.

"I said it wasn't about a boy!"

Marinette put a hand of Alya's arm placatingly, "I know, but you said it was connected to a boy and I couldn't think of anything connected to a boy that wasn't also _about_ a boy!" She frowned, "Wait a second, what does Lila have to with a boy?"

Alya's eyebrow rose, "Uh, how about the fact that you're jealous of her because she talks to Adrien?"

Marinette let out an undignified snort. "I told you, I'm not jealous of her!" She paused, then her shoulders slump, "Alright, I _was_ at first, but I'm not anymore." She straightened back up at directed her own glare at Alya, "She's a liar and I don't like liars. And I don't recall giving you a challenge to write about Lila's lies."

"Yeah but..." Alya hesitated. Marinette shifted so they were facing each other more directly. "Lila has told us about meeting and interacting with all the people that you _did_ challenge me to write about."

Nonplussed, Marinette pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest, "Okay... Name a famous person who Lila's hasn't claimed to have met."

Alya opened her mouth to reply and immediately froze. Marinette had to suppress a renewed urge to laugh. She discretely glanced past her to check the time on the alarm clock. Marinette continued to wait, lips twitching as Alya stared past her, unable to come up with an answer. She decided two minutes of silence was long enough, "Well?"

"Uh... well..." Alya's eyes darted around her room, landing on the Ladybug Movie Poster, "Thomas Astruc!"

Marinette pursed her lips and nodded slightly, "Okay, now tell me about a well-known quirk of Thomas Astruc."

Silence filled the room again as Alya fumbled for something unusual about him. "Well, he's allergic to almonds."

Marinette frowned, "Really? That's not a quirk. A quirk is something unusual that someone _chooses_ to do. Allergies are neither unusual nor a choice. Got anything else?"

Alya's eyes roamed her room again, "What about Alec Cataldi?"

"Lila said she introduced him to KIDZ+."

"XY?"

"Saved him from choking."

"Majestia?"

"Was saved by her from the Trash Krakken."

"André Glacier?"

"Fixed his order for some famous couple or another so that they didn't get the wrong ice cream."

Alya threw her hands up in the air, "Okay, okay, I get it!" She shook her head, "Lila really has met a lot of famous people hasn't she?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, " _Says_ she's met."

Alya scowled back at her, "Where's your proof that she's lying? What reason does she have to lie?"

"Uh, to try to make people like her?"

"She doesn't need to lie for that! Lila's always been really sweet. We'd like even without knowing any famous people!"

"Or having a thousand and one medical ailments?"

The scowl deepened into a glare, "It's not pity. I like Lila just fine for who she is!"

"Fine!" Marinette took the notebook off Alya's lap and replaced it with the laptop. She pushed a bit further backwards and gestured to the screen, "You want proof? How about your own proof? Did you find anything to support any of Lila's claims about Clara, Jagged or Prince Ali?"

"Aha!" Alya pointed a finger at her accusingly, "So your challenge _was_ about Lila!"

The notebook went flying as Marinette let out a growl of frustration and leapt off the bed to pace across the room. "You write about famous people! It's what you do! Just like I design. So I challenged you to write about famous people! Didn't we just establish that Lila claims to have met almost every single famous person who's still breathing? How was I supposed to avoid her and still stick to what you like to do?"

Alya carefully placed her computer beside her on the bed before standing as well, "Then what was with the source hunting? Why did I need _three_ sources for every fact?"

"Because that's what good reporters do! They back up their information with proof! And you _still haven't answered my question!_ "

Arms crossed, glaring at the floor, Alya said, "I didn't."

"I know you didn't. That's what I just said! Did you find any support for Lila's claims or not?!"

Brown eyes rose to meet blue, glare still piercing, " _I didn't,_ " Alya repeated. Her gaze softened and flickered away for a moment, "I didn't find anything."

Marinette waited expectantly, but Alya didn't add anything else. Frustrated, she waved her hand in an invitation to continue, "And...?"

"And nothing!" Alya threw her hands up in exasperation and dropped back onto her bed with a suddenness that made her laptop bounce. "Not a thing. No mentions of her for any of the three and multiple sources that directly contradict her! It doesn't make sense."

Moving a few steps closer again, Marinette leaned towards her, "Unless, of course, I'm telling the truth and _she's lying..._ "

Alya's eyes were round and her eyebrows scrunched together in the middle, "But why?"

The fight drained out of Marinette with a sigh and she moved to sit down gently beside Alya on the bed. "I don't know," she said, "Why would she threaten to make me lose all my friends and ruin my life?"

Alya gasped and jerked around to stare at her, " _She didn't!_ "

Marinette nodded, "She did. In the bathroom when she followed me out of the cafeteria after I threw the napkin at her. Which, by the way, did you ever stop to consider the plausibility of the corner of a paper napkin gouging out someone's eye while they were wearing glasses?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Alya's face flushed, "Well when you put it like that..."

A mirthless laugh escaped her as Marinette turned back to look at her hands, now clasped tightly in her lap, "She tried to ruin my life too." She glanced up to see Alya's confused look. "The test? The necklace? _The stairs?_ "

A brown hand reached out to cover hers, "I never believed you did any of that girl."

Marinette smiled faintly, "Yeah I know. But you also didn't believe Lila did. Really, how else does Lila end up at the bottom of the stairs with no one else around if I didn't do it?"

Alya shifted and started to draw her hand away, but Marinette quickly grasped it instead. Alya sighed and gave Marinette's hand a squeeze, "I thought she fell accidentally and she had assumed it was you because you were obviously upset with her at the time."

"And the necklace? How did she know it was in my locker if she didn't put it there?"

"Maybe she saw it when you were changing your books."

"And she didn't ask me about it? Or bring it up to a teacher immediately? Instead, she waits until I'm accused of cheating and supposedly pushed her down the stairs? Seems a little convenient don't you think?" Marinette tried to dial back the sarcasm, but judging by Alya's flinch she didn't succeed very well.

"You're right!" Alya sighed and sagged backwards, falling onto her bed, "You're right. It's either really convoluted and unlikely explanations to justify what Lila's said, or none of it is true."

"Well, one thing might be true." Alya rolled her head towards her and raised and eyebrow. Marinette just smiled, "Lila did claim to be a compulsive and uncontrollable liar. I mean, being mentally ill and a therefore a pathological liar is a real thing, so it is possible she was telling the truth about that..."

Alya stared at her blankly for a moment before groaning and rolling onto her side, pulling her hand away in the process, "Oh man! She flat out said that she lies regularly and I still didn't think she might be lying with all that other stuff! I'm a _terrible_ reporter!"

Marinette giggled, "No you're not. You just need to not let your excitement blind you to doing your job properly."

Alya just groaned again.

Reaching out to give Alya's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, Marinette was about to add something else when her phone alarm went off. She snapped her head to the clock and jumped off the bed, "Ack! I gotta go or I won't make it home on time!"

With another groan Alya rolled herself back up onto her feet and started collecting Marinette's things so she could put them back in her bag. Retrieving the notebook from the floor, she tore out the pages with her sketches and handed them to Marinette.

As she slipped the last page into her bag, Marinette looked up at Alya and bit her lip. "Yes," she blurted. Alya barely had time to blink before she continued, "Yes I was hoping that you writing those articles and looking for sources might make you at least _think_ about what Lila was saying instead of taking it all at face value. You sure weren't listening to me." Alya flushed again, but Marinette didn't let her interrupt, "I also wanted to challenge you to be a bit more critical in _all_ of your writing. You're good at doing the research, but sometimes you get so excited about what you're writing that you don't do it. And it was supposed to be a challenge, so I had to think of something–"

"Girl!" Alya's hand shot out to cover her mouth, "It's okay." She lowered her hand with a sigh. "You're right, I wasn't listening to you and I wasn't thinking critically because it did sound amazing." She snorted, "Too good to be true I guess." She sighed and stepped forward to wrap her in a tight hug, "I'm sorry Marinette. I should have listened to you sooner."

Startled, Marinette froze for a second before dropping her bag and wrapping her own arms around Alya to hug her back. "I forgive you." She pulled back and smiled, "Friends?"

"Best friends," Alya smiled, "See you tomorrow?"

Marinette gave her another hug, "Of course!"


	13. Balcony Chat

**Success! Another chapter complete! Thanks for all the reviews, likes and follows and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chat Noir paced across the roof opposite the bakery. He had been waiting without success for Marinette to come up to her room ever since he'd managed to escape his own home after dinner. He snapped open his baton to check the time and let out a growl of frustration when he saw it was 21h58. "It's a school night! Doesn't she have to go to bed soon?" he grumbled to himself.

The sound of running sent him to the edge of the roof in a flash, peering down to see who was there. When he spotted a familiar pair of pigtails he quickly vaulted himself to her balcony where he waited (im)patiently for her arrival.

When the light in her room turned on, Chat sprang to the hatch, his claws millimetres away from tapping on the glass when he suddenly realized that he didn't have a reason he could give her for his need to see her so soon. He hesitated, torn between the overwhelming need to make sure that he hadn't been wrong about her interest in Adrien and his inability to justify his rapid return. Just as he pulled back his hand to flee, Marinette climbed up to her bed and glanced at the hatch. Her mouth dropped open in surprise and the slightest flush appeared on her cheeks. Chat found himself trapped in her gaze, unable to move.

A moment later, he was forced to jerk himself backwards as Marinette swung open the hatch and climbed up to join him, "Chat Noir? Have you been here waiting for me? Did we say we were going to meet tonight?"

Straightening up and leaning against the pony wall covered in potted plants in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner, Chat brought his claws up to pretend to examine them while actually studying her reactions between his fingers. "No, I was just _feline_ a little lonely and thought I'd see if the Purrincess was in her tower," he raised his eyes and grinned at her.

Her anxiety faded to be replaced by an amused grin of her own, "Is that so?" She stepped in close enough for Chat to feel her breath ghost across his face and Chat felt his heart race in response. He struggled to keep his breathing steady as she leaned into his chest. "Well we wouldn't want a lonely kitty-cat now would we?" Her hands slid up his back until her fingers tangled in his hair, scratching just behind his cat ears. His eyes fluttered shut in bliss and he felt as though his bones had been liquified and were no longer able to hold him upright. Just as he was about to slide gracelessly down the wall, the scratching disappeared and Marinette let out a soft sigh. His eyes popped open to see the smile had disappeared from her face and she was stepping away from him, shoulders slumped and head hanging low.

He blinked rapidly, scrambling internally to pull himself together as Marinette wrapped her arms tightly around herself and stepped further away from him, "Princess? What's wrong?"

She hugged her arms tighter across her chest, "I'm sorry Chat. I couldn't do it."

"Uh..." Chat stared at her in bewilderment. Her sudden mood change left him reeling, and he couldn't figure out what she was talking about.

Her voice was tiny as she answered his silent question, "Adrien. I couldn't talk to him. I could barely even look at him. And I still don't understand how you can be so encouraging about me even thinking about asking him on a date!"

 _That would be because I am him_ , Chat thought wryly. "Well you're okay with the fact that I'm also in love with Ladybug."

"Yeah, but you're not trying to ask her out."

He felt a blush creep up his cheeks, "But I would if I got the chance."

Marinette turned back towards him and her eyes were swimming with unshed tears, "Even with all the times that she's rejected you? You'd still consider going on a date with her? She doesn't deserve your love. I don't deserve your love." Her hands suddenly shot out, waving erratically, "Not that I'm trying to assume that you love me, or that it's anything like how you feel about Ladybug! I mean–"

Ironically feeling grounded by her panic, Chat was able to push himself away from the wall and envelop her in his arms, gently pulling her in closer so that he could cover her lips with his own. She went stiff for a moment before melting into him and wrapping her arms around him to pull him tight against her. When he pulled away, Chat rested his forehead against hers and waited until Marinette's eyes met his own before speaking, "You're not assuming anything Marinette. I _do_ love you. I told you that just last night. Don't tell me you've forgotten already," he teased.

Marinette flushed and pulled her head away, "Um, well... kinda?" His face must have shown his surprise, because she was instantly back-pedalling, "I mean no! Of course not! I just can't really believe it. You loving me. I'm just plain boring Marinette, of all the people in Paris, why would you love me? And for you to be not only understanding but _encouraging_ of me loving another guy? Who does that? How can you possibly be sincere?"

"Well, for one, I don't own you," Chat quipped, "And if you ever do decide to pick me over Adrien, I'd rather have it be because you liked me better than because you couldn't even talk to him so you just gave up." He slid his hand up to caress her cheek gently before tilting her chin up enough to lock gazes again, "And you aren't 'just' anything, much less plain or boring." He lowered his hand to catch her own, absentmindedly drawing random lines on her palm, "You are kind, and hardworking, and thoughtful. You are an incredible designer, you're creative, and you're focused and driven when under pressure. You are amazing Marinette, how could anyone _not_ love you?"

Chat watched as Marinette's face turned bright red, "I am not focused under pressure. If I was maybe I'd be able to talk to Adrien."

"Fine," he huffed, "You're focused and driven when under pressure _on behalf of someone else_. Is that better Purrincess?" Marinette spluttered unintelligibly and Chat hugged her tight with a chuckle. "I stand by what I said. You like me. You like Adrien. I'm pretty sure you also like Luka. I want you to pick whichever one of us you decide you like best after you've had a real chance to get to know us. You can't do that unless you also get the chance to really get to know each of us by dating."

Marinette pushed against his chest and Chat loosened his grip so she could pull away. He was equally pleased and disappointed that she had returned to a normal colour. "Did you seriously just encourage me to ask _two_ other boys on a date?"

Chat shrugged, relying on his model training to keep his body language relaxed, "If I'm going to agree to let you date other people then I can hardly dictate who those people should be. What about that red-headed boy who was akumatized into Evillustrator? Nathan? Nathaniel? Didn't he have a crush on you? Maybe you should go on a date with him too." Chat felt his tail twitch, betraying his anxiety, and he had to consciously fight to keep the rest of himself relaxed and still.

Fortunately, Marinette didn't appear to notice. Instead she was slowly shaking her head back and forth with wide eyes, "You really are too good for me."

Pulling on his inner Chat Noir bravado, Chat sidled back up into her personal space, leaning down to bring his mouth near her ear, "Or maybe I'm just that confident that I'll come out on the top of that list," he purred.

Marinette swatted at him, laughing as she pulled away, "You're such a dork!"

Chat shrugged and opened his mouth to reply when he heard footsteps making their way up the stairs to Marinette's room. His hand sprang to his back, detaching his baton as he looked for the best hiding spot. Not keen on hiding under the table again, he quickly launched himself up and over the chimney, landing softly and pressing his back up against the bricks.

"Ch–"

"Marinette?" Marinette let out a startled screech and Chat could hear her shuffling as she fought to stay on her feet. "What are you doing up? You have school in the morn–" Chat heard Mrs Cheng interrupt herself with a tsk, "You aren't even in your pyjamas yet! Have you just been up here talking to yourself for the last half hour?"

Chat winced and glanced down at his baton to see that it was in fact now past 22h30. Marinette let out a strained giggle, "Is it that late? Wow, I'm sorry Mom! I just came up to water my plants and then I was thinking out loud and I completely lost track of time! I'll come in right away and get ready for bed."

There was the soft rustle of clothes and a couple of footsteps, "In you go then," said Sabine.

"Uh... right. Time for bed!" Chat shook his head, Marinette's overly cheerful voice wasn't exactly subtle. Maybe that was why her mother was acting as an escort. He waited until he heard the balcony hatch and bedroom trapdoor close and footsteps retreating down the stairs to the main floor of the Dupain-Cheng home, then gave it another fifteen minutes for Marinette to get herself changed and ready for bed before quietly sneaking back around the chimney.

Perched above her balcony trapdoor, Chat peered inside, using his night vision to make sure Marinette was alone before gently tapping on her glass. Marinette rolled over and climbed out of her blankets in order to crack open the hatch. "Chat!" she hissed, "You're going to get me in trouble!"

Sliding his fingers through the crack, Chat lifted it just enough to slip inside and let it close silently behind him. Marinette glared at him, but he just leaned in close enough to whisper in her ear, "Then you'd better speak more quietly, eh purrincess?"

She let out a huff and dropped back down to sit on her bed, Chat following. "I thought you left."

He rolled his eyes, "You didn't really think I'd leave in the middle of our conversation did you?"

Marinette huffed again, "Fine. But if we're going to talk, there's a bigger thing we need to talk about." Chat raised an eyebrow, though he wasn't entirely sure she could see it between his mask and the dark room. "You can't keep coming here."

Chat blinked rapidly, "Wait... what?"

Her hands reached out to grasp his, "That didn't come out right." She crossed her legs and scooted closer to him so her knee was resting on his thigh, "What I mean is that you can't keep coming to my balcony all the time."

There was a moment of silence, but Chat was still coming up blank, "Why not?"

"Because I'm not always going to be here. Sometimes I'm going to be doing homework, or helping in the bakery, or spending time with my family, or working on a project, or hanging out with a friend." She squeezed his hands, "Or going out on a date with someone else."

Chat shrugged, "So I check, and if you're busy I'll head out."

Marinette was shaking her head before he finished, "It's not just that, I will _not_ be an Achilles' heel for you!"

Baffled, Chat stared at her for a moment before responding, "You could never be a weak point for me Marinette! You make me feel warm and safe and loved." He released one of her hands so he could slide his arm around her waist, tugging on her to twist her around so that she was leaning against him.

She resisted, craning her head to look at him, "Not like that. If you keep coming here regularly you're going to get caught. Someone will see you and figure out that you're visiting me, and there's no way you'd be able to keep _that_ quiet. Then Hawkmoth will realize that I mean something to you and he _will_ try to find a way to use me against you."

Chat frowned and pulled her in close to hug her. She gave in and settled back against his chest. "Then what? I know you don't really know me very well, but I don't have a lot of control over my regular life. There are very few things that I get to choose, and most of the things I have chosen I have had to fight to get and to keep." A slight growl crept into his voice, raising it above a whisper, "I may have just realized how important you are to me, but I'm not losing that. I can and _will_ fight to keep you, and I'm _definitely_ not losing you because of Hawkmoth."

He heard her breath catch and her heart speed up and Chat couldn't suppress a grin even as she shushed him. "I'm just saying that you aren't going to be able to come here every day, and if we decide to keep dating we're going to have to find somewhere else to meet up eventually."

His grin faded into a frown and his grip slackened, "But then when will we be able to see each other? And how are we going to set it up?"

"CallMe."

Chat shook his head, "Mari I know you're smarter than that. I don't stay powered up all the time and I can't constantly be transforming just for the sake of calling you. That's a good way to get caught and put my identity at risk too."

She giggled softly, "Silly kitty, there's an app called CallMe – all one word – that gives you an alternate phone number on your phone that you can use to text and call people. If you set it up on your regular phone we can talk and text without risking me figuring out who you are or having anyone else know either."

A lump in his throat prevented Chat from answering her and he heard the confusion in her voice as she twisted to look up at him again, "Chat?"

He swallowed hard and cleared his throat, "Sorry. Uh... I'm sorry but... could you not call me that?"

"What?"

He started to clear his throat again, then hesitated when he realized how loud it was. Swallowing again instead he turned his head away from her, "Kitty."

"Kitty?" He saw the moment she understood as Marinette's eyes grew wide, "Oh. Oh! I'm sorry! Of course that's Ladybug's nickname for you. I didn't even think about it. I'll uh... I'll think of something else to call you." She straightened her head and leaned her head back against his shoulder. There was an awkward silence before she spoke again, "But uh... what do you think about the app?"

Relieved by her understanding, Chat rested his chin on her head and felt her relax in response, "I think it's a great idea. If you give me your number I'll punch it into my normal phone as soon as I get home and download the app."

"Great!" Marinette sighed and pulled away from him, "Unfortunately, you really should be heading out. I have school tomorrow."

"Don't we all?" muttered Chat. _At least I'll get to see you again there!_

Grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, Marinette wrote down the name of the app as well as her cell number and handed it to him. Chat tucked it securely into a pocket and zipped it closed.

Chat swooped in to snag a quick kiss, then hopped up and out the hatch, giving her a two finger salute, "Until next time Purrincess! I'll message you when I get the app all sorted out."

Marinette jumped up onto her bed and stole a kiss of her own before he could close the hatch, "Good night Chat."

"Good night Mari."


	14. Nino on Board

**Thanks for the reviews! To the guest to whom I can't directly reply: I really enjoyed reading your comments and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. :)**

 **I've actually had this chapter done for almost a week now, but hadn't quite gotten around to proof-reading/editing it until today. Sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Marinette! You're going to be late for school!" Tikki flitted around Marinette's head, but her charge's only response was to roll onto her side and curl herself a little tighter around her cat pillow with a soft smile on her face. Tikki huffed in exasperation, "It's great to see you relaxed," she said as she zipped around the room looking for something to help her in her quest to wake the girl, "But this really isn't the time!"

Tikki's eyes fell on the vanity wash basin in the corner of the room and she was just starting to search for a glass or some other small container so she could dump some water on Marinette's head when a chime caught her attention. Flying over to the source, she found Marinette's phone plugged in, lying on the desk near her computer. The screen was lit up with a message notification from an unknown number. A smile lit her face as she flew up to hover as close to Marinette's ear as she could get. "Oh Marinette! It looks like Chat is trying to message you..." Marinette's eyes flew open just as another chime sounded and Tikki giggled, "And he sounds a little impatient too..."

Marinette flung her blankets aside and shot out of bed, forcing Tikki to back away rapidly in order to avoid getting buried. She dropped over the railed as Marinette stumbled her way off the loft, landing in a heap at the bottom. Before Tikki could say a word, she was back up and scrambling to grab her phone off her desk. Tikki giggled again and Marinette spared a moment to glare at her before trying to unlock her phone.

Five tries later Tikki stifled her laughter so she was able to land lightly on Marinette's shoulder in support, "Slow down, he's not going anywhere."

Sucking in a deep breath and closing her eyes, Marinette paused before letting it out in an explosive burst and carefully entering her passcode to unlock her phone.

Tikki peered down at the phone, "So? Is it him?"

 **Unknown – CallMe is up and running! Sweet dreams Mari, I'll talk to you tomorrow!**

A whimper escaped Marinette as Tikki read the first message and she glanced at her charge in concern. Marinette's face nearly matched her own in colour, but she was smiling, so Tikki looked back down at the phone that had let out another chime.

 **Unknown – Good morning purrincess! It's a beautiful day!**

 **Unknown – Much like you! ;)**

 **Unknown – Mari?**

 **Unknown – Please tell me I didn't get your number wrong...**

 **Unknown – Hello? Mari? Doesn't your school start in 5 mins?**

 **Unknown – Or something like that anyways...**

 **Unknown – Marinette?**

Marinette screeched and dropped her phone. Tikki swooped down to catch it, narrowly saving it from deflecting off the edge of the desk to the floor. "Tikki why didn't you wake me?! I'm going to be late!"

Tikki sighed and shook her head as she carefully placed the phone back on the desk. She looked up just in time to see Marinette fall over again as she tried to put both feet through her pants' legs at the same time. "Marinette..." She got no further before Marinette had scrambled to her feet, somehow pulling up her pants and fastening them at the same time. She lunged across the room to grab her bag – thankfully packed the night before – dashed to the trap door, flung it open and started down the steps. Heaving another sigh, Tikki scooped up the phone and zipped after her.

"Marine–" Tikki cut herself off abruptly upon catching sight of Sabine, who was uncharacteristically in the kitchen instead of the bakery.

"Oh good! I was worried you were going to sleep right through your first class sweetie!" said Sabine, holding out a croissant.

"Nope! Gotta go, love you! Bye!" said Marinette as she snagged the croissant on her way past and shot out the door.

Tikki hovered impatiently, waiting for Sabine to turn away so she could sneak past. She wished she could just phase through the walls, but carrying Marinette's phone made it impossible. When the coast was finally clear, she was just able to catch a glimpse of Marinette's pink ballet flats as she dashed out the door and into the street.

An anxious squeak escaped her and Tikki hesitated. _I can't go outside, I'll be seen for sure. But I don't know if I should just stay here either._ She hesitated, bobbing anxiously as she debated, _Marinette will be back for lunch... It's only a few hours..._

Mind made up, Tikki snuck back through the house and up into Marinette's room. She gently replaced the phone on Marinette's desk and phased up through the skylight to the balcony. Looking down, she could see Marinette sprinting to school and dashing up the stairs. Apprehensively, Tikki sunk back into the bedroom, _I hope there isn't an akuma..._

An alert lit up the screen of Marinette's phone and Tikki glanced over, expecting to see another message from Chat Noir. Instead, she dropped about a foot when she spotted an all too familiar Akuma Alert. "No no no no no!" she fretted, scooping up the phone again and unlatching the skylight to make her way up onto the balcony again, "Now what?!"

Staring in the direction of François Dupont, Tikki wracked her brain to think of a discrete way to reunite with Marinette. Brightening slightly, Tikki took off towards the school, "I hope she still goes to her locker before class!" she murmured to herself.

* * *

"I'm telling you Nino, you can't rely on Lila to get your mixes out there!"

Nino sighed softly as he walked to class with Alya at his side. Spotting Adrien ahead of him, he sped up a little to reach his best friend and clapped him on the shoulder, "Morning dude!"

Adrien jumped and quickly lowered his phone, "Oh! Ah, good morning!"

Nino smirked, "What'cha watching your phone so intently for?" His smile faded, "Don't tell me you're taking off on me again today."

Adrien shook his head and reached up to rub the back of his neck, "No, no... I'm just waiting for a text from Natalie about yesterday's shoot. There was some concern about one of the wardrobe choices and I'm just hoping I don't have to redo it."

"That sucks man!" Nino squeezed Adrien's shoulder before dropping his hand, "Hopefully everything comes back okay."

"Yeah..."

"Nino!"

Sighing again, Nino turned back slightly to see his girlfriend glaring at him. "Babe, I'm not counting on her. Networking and connections are great, but they aren't going to make me succeed unless I've got good material. And even then, not everyone is gonna like my style. I know better than to put all my eggs in one basket."

Alya's glare faded, leaving her looking a little lost, "Oh. Uh... right." She quickly pulled herself together and Nino suppressed a smile. Alya's ability to recover and refocus in the face of pretty much anything was one of the things he loved about her. "Well I wouldn't put much faith in her passing anything on. I bet she barely _knows the names_ of most of the people she _says_ she's met and helped." Alya scowled as they walked into the classroom.

Nino glanced over at Adrien, expecting to share an amused smile as they slid into their seats in Mme. Bustier's classroom, but was surprised to see a very serious look on Adrien's face. He half-turned back towards Alya, about to speak when another voice interrupted.

"What do you mean she barely knows their names? That's pretty mean!"

Alya stepped back and spun around, giving Nino a clear view of Rose and Juleka who had just entered the room. "Well it's not like she's ever had any _proof!_ It's just a bunch of far-fetched stories!"

Rose's eyes were wide and her brow crinkled, "You've always believed her before, why are you suddenly against her?"

"Let's just say I've had my eyes opened. Marinette was right about her all along," Alya planted her feet as though she was expecting a battle.

"Al, I don't think that's going to be the best way to convince people..." said Nino.

As he'd expected, Rose's confused look was rapidly shifting into annoyance, "I know she'd your best friend, but wasn't it you that pointed out that Marinette has a tendency to get jealous?" she said with a pointed look towards Adrien, who Nino noticed was avidly staring at his phone again.

"That's not what's going on!" protested Alya.

"Well why don't you share your enlightenment with the rest of us then?" Rose snipped.

"Fine. You want proof?" eyes narrowed, Alya smiled, and Nino stood up to see what had caught her attention. He let a resigned sigh and sank back into his seat when he saw Lila coming up behind Rose. "How's this? Lila _says_ she not only met Jagged Stone, but she saved his kitten from being run over by an airplane. Setting aside the ridiculousness of a kitten loose on a runway or Lila being on a runway while a plane was taxing close enough that she could see the kitten in its path and run to get it out of the way without getting injured herself, how about the fact that Jagged _doesn't own a cat! And!_ " she rapidly continued before Rosa or Lila herself could respond, "Jagged has given _multiple_ interviews in which he's stated that cats are 'just not rock 'n roll'." Her grin widened and Nino flinched slightly, "Not to mention the fact that he owns a crocodile which would happily eat _any_ kittens that came his way!" What had started as a smile and become a grin now fully shifted into an extremely smug and predatory look as she folded her arms across her chest and met Lila's gaze.

At this point, the entire class was watching the exchange with bated breath, most of whom had now shifted their focus to Lila for her response. Nino had to give her credit, she did look suitably surprised, but she barely hesitated before laughing and waving a hand towards Alya.

"Oh I'm so sorry! You're right, that was pretty confusing wasn't it?" Lila smiled warmly, "It wasn't _exactly_ Jagged's cat. He bought it for Penny. You _must_ know how important she is to him." Lila let out a small giggle and waved a hand dismissively, "Anyway! He figured she'd be a cat person, so he went and picked her out a kitten. Of course, he's not exactly very good with standard pets, so he'd had it on a leash, you know, like Fang? And the kitten just slipped right out of its collar and ran off! So I chased after it, but then it ran towards another plane which had just finished loading. We ended up under the plane and they didn't see us before giving the pilots the all-clear to start moving." Lila shuddered, "It was pretty terrifying to have a giant plane start rolling towards me, but I knew that I just _couldn't_ let the poor kitten be run over!"

"Of course not!" Rose jumped to wrap her arms around Lila in a tight hug, "That was so brave of you!"

Lila gently returned Rose's hug, "Thanks. I wasn't thinking about being brave though, I just knew I had to do it." She gave Rose a small smile which quickly faded, "I don't think Penny ended up keeping the kitten. It wasn't really a good mix with Fang and all the traveling that they do."

As the rest of the class wandered off to their seats, avidly discussing Lila's heroics, Nino turned back to Alya, who was glaring at Lila's back. "That girl!" she hissed.

"Let it rest Alya." Nino turned around, unsurprised to catch Adrien glancing at his phone again before looking up at Alya. "Lila is good at what she does," Adrien said, "You're not going to be able to convince them and you're just going to make things worse for yourself or get Lila akumatized. Again. And I think Ladybug and Chat Noir could use a break from her antics."

Alya turned the full force of her glare on Adrien as she stalked over to the front of their shared desk, "You _knew?_ " she said, "Why didn't you _say_ something?"

"You mean like defending Marinette when Lila accused her of cheating? Or trying to stop Mr Damocles when he expelled Marinette without doing any kind of reasonable investigation?"

"You could have done more!" Alya insisted.

Nino reached out to try to sooth his girlfriend, "Babe–"

Alya jerked herself away from him, "Maybe if you had said something _before_ Lila pulled the 'let's get Marinette expelled stunt' it never would have happened!"

"Alya," Adrien sighed, "The teachers believe her. Mr Damocles believes her. Our classmates all believe her. Up until this morning, _you_ believed her. None of you listened to anything Marinette had to say about it. If you wouldn't believe your best friend why would you believe me?" His eyebrows rose in a silent question and Nino watched as Alya flushed and dropped her gaze to the floor. "Lila is an excellent liar and she knows what she's doing," Adrien gestured towards the doorway of the classroom where the confrontation had occurred just moments before, "You just saw her wriggle her way out of being exposed when your points should have been proof enough that she was lying. What do you think I could have done?"

Alya's head shot back up, "Not been so nice to her! Sided with Marinette! Told us Lila was lying!" Alya ranted. Nino hushed her since they were starting to attract attention again, and though she glared at him, she did lower her voice. "Why didn't you tell me that Ladybug showed up and debunked Lila's lies about being best friends? Then I wouldn't have to put out a retraction!"

Nino raised an eyebrow, "So this is about you now?"

"No! That's not what I meant!" Alya huffed and buried her hands in her hair, pulling at it by the roots for a moment.

The pieces suddenly all fell in place and Nino leaned back in his chair, "Ah... you feel guilty for not listening to Marinette." Alya flushed again. "And embarrassed because you didn't do your job properly before posting Lila's stories on the LadyBlog."

Alya's shoulders drooped and she slowly made her way to her seat. Nino and Adrien turned with her. "Yes. I feel guilty. And embarrassed. And stupid. And frustrated that nobody is listening!"

"Neither did you," said Adrien. At Alya's look he quickly tacked on a "Before."

"And really dude, this isn't the way to convince people. You just come across as angry and trying to pick a fight," said Nino.

Alya shifted back to glare at Nino, "And you? Did you know she was lying too? You seem awfully chill about this whole thing."

Nino shrugged, "Naw, I thought she was telling the truth. I mean with a diplomate for a mother she's got to travel a lot right? It's not impossible for her to have met all those people."

"And now you're convinced she's lying? Just like that?"

"Dude, Lila was never my friend. Sure, it was nice of her to watch our siblings that one time so that we could go out on a date, but the only reason I've had anything to do with her is because you did."

Nonplussed, Alya blinked at him for a moment, "And are you going to continue to be that chill when I tell you that Lila threatened Marinette?"

Nino stared at her in shock while Adrien shot to his feet beside him, but before either one could speak, a warning buzz started to sound from all the cell phones in the room. Mme Bustier came through the door at a quick walk, shutting it securely behind herself, "Alright everyone, that's an Akuma Alert. Standard drills apply: everyone stays here, and everyone stays quiet until it's over."

A loud bang as the door flew open had everyone crowding under their tables and fearing the worst, but a flash of pink caught Nino's eye and he rapidly straightened back up. "Sorry I'm late Mme. Bustier!" said Marinette.

"That's fine Marinette, the Akuma Alert has just sounded anyways, so we won't be doing much this morning," said Mme. Bustier.

Nino watched as Marinette froze in place. She reached down to her purse and popped it open, glancing down as she spoke, "An Akuma Aler–" All colour drained from her face and Nino jumped to his feet, afraid she was about to faint, but Adrien beat him to her side.

One arm wrapped securely around Marinette to keep her steady, Adrien turned towards Mme. Bustier, "I think Marinette needs to go the infirmary Mme."

Mme. Bustier glanced up, frowning, "You know the rules Adrien, you need to stay here until the akuma attack is over."

"Marinette really doesn't look well Mme," he pressed, "I'm not sure waiting is a good idea."

Mme. Bustier frowned at them for a moment and Adrien evidently decided to capitalize on her hesitation, "I'll make sure she gets there safely!" he said as he ushered her back out the door.

Nino stared after him in disbelief, for such a mild-mannered and polite person, Adrien sure knew how to take advantage of a situation.


	15. Confession

**Updates will be a little slower again for the next couple of months as I have some time-sensitive projects to finish, but I promise it won't be as bad as last time with the multi-month delays. Enjoy!**

* * *

It took a few moments for Marinette to reorient herself, only to discover that she was being led away from the classroom. She blinked, registering the feel of warmth around her shoulders and a soft voice in her ear.

"It's okay Marinette, I'll get you to the nurse in no time and then you'll be able to lie down, just hang on..."

Confused to hear Chat Noir's voice, Marinette turned her head to look at him, only to see the back of a blond head as he was clearly scanning the courtyard before continuing to the stairs in a slow and stealthy manner. Chat turned his head back towards her and Marinette immediately realized her mistake: her guide was Adrien, not Chat Noir. A blush surged into her cheeks, but she quickly reminded herself that there were other far more important concerns. _Where would Tikki be? Would she have waited at home for me?_ Marinette shook her head at herself, causing Adrien to glance down at her. She smiled sheepishly and looked away. _No. She would have heard the Akuma Alert and tried to get back to me. So where would she– ah!_ Marinette's eyes had fallen on the door to the locker room. _Of course! If I hadn't been in such a hurry I would have gone to my locker! Tikki knows that. I bet that where she's waiting for me._ She frowned slightly, _But how am_ I _going to get there?_

Adrien slipped his arm off her shoulders and down her arm to grasp her hand, giving it a slight squeeze, "Marinette... Did Lila really threaten you?"

Startled, Marinette snapped her head back up to meet his eyes, "Uh... What?"

"Did Lila threaten you?"

In an effort to hide the blush creeping back into her face, Marinette turned her head to scan for the akuma, "I don't think now is really the time to talk about this..."

Adrien sighed and pulled her into a gentle hug, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Marinette froze, unable to reply. As his soft scent filled her nose and his warmth surrounded her, she struggled to regain control over her rapidly spiralling thoughts.

"Why would she threaten you?" She could feel Adrien's breath in her hair as he spoke and she would have shivered if she wasn't still frozen. "You're the kindest person I know and you don't seem like the type of person to have any dark secrets."

"Uh... she didn't like the fact that I saw through her lies," said Marinette. _There was something I was supposed to be doing... what was it?_

"But still, I can't believe there's anything she could hold over you as a threat."

"Except maybe my apparent habit of stealing phones," she muttered.

Adrien pulled back slightly, "What was that?"

Marinette's face immediately flushed a deep red, "Oh uh..." _Say something!_ "She threatened to take away all my friends." She couldn't meet his gaze and when her eyes fell on the locker room door again, she felt all the blood drain away from her face again. _Tikki! There's an akuma and I need to get to Tikki! I'm also going to faint or something if I don't get my emotions under control,_ she thought wryly. _Okay, You're not Marinette, you're Ladybug and you can do this!_ With a deep breath, Marinette pushed down her panic and set her focus on getting to the locker room.

"How could you believe her though? Did you really think that we would turn our backs on you just because someone new came along?" His voice sounded hurt and Marinette flinched.

 _Get to Tikki._ She glanced up at Adrien quickly to see his soft eyes shining with the same hurt she'd heard in his voice. _Maybe if I can keep Adrien distracted he won't notice that we're not heading towards the nurse._ She dropped her eyes and turned her head so she could scan the mezzanine for threats. "Well I might have accidentally sabotaged myself in trying to warn everyone about her." Seeing nothing, she starting moving again. Adrien followed automatically.

"Sabotaged yourself? How?"

Peering over the railing, Marinette did her best to check the rest of the courtyard before starting down the stairs. "Uh... because Lila was obviously interested in you, so when I called her a liar everyone thought I was just jealous." _Almost there._

Adrien's voice cracked in his reply, "Jealous?" He quickly cleared his throat, "Why would they think that?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, "Because I'm in love with you of course." _Twenty meters... I'll make a run for it._

With a last quick check, Marinette dashed across the corner of the courtyard and through the locker room door, barely catching it behind her to prevent it from slamming closed. _Yes! Now I just need to grab Tikki and get away from Adrien and–_ Suddenly realizing that she hadn't heard any footsteps except her own, Marinette turned around and pulled the door open again. Adrien was sitting on the bottom stairs, eyes wide and looking shell-shocked.

"Adri–" she hissed, only to be interrupted by a very familiar and welcome voice.

"Marinette!" She quickly closed the door and spun around just in time to catch Tikki and her phone, "Marinette there's an akuma! You need to transform!"

"I need to help Adrien, he was right behind me, but something's happened and–"

"–and you can help him far better as Ladybug than Marinette," Tikki pointed out.

"Right!" Marinette squared herself, "Tikki! Spots on!"

* * *

"Because I'm in love with you of course."

Adrien stumbled and fell, narrowly snagging the railing so that he was able to lower himself onto the nearest step instead of tumbling down the last half dozen. He stared at the back of Marinette's head in shock. After all of her anxiety and stammering and blushing, how had she managed to just say it so matter of factly? He'd known she liked him, he was even reasonably certain she loved him, but he had never expected her to just say it like that! It was like a punch in the gut and he struggled to regain his breath. _Stop it!_ he told himself sternly, _I control myself, my emotions do not control me._ He drew on years of model behaviour, both as a literal model and as a 'model' son to re-center himself. He blinked slowly, deliberately resetting his face into a neutral expression.

"Hey kid, not that I have any objection to us just sitting this one out, but don't you think you could find a better place to do it that on the stairs in the middle of a potential akuma attack zone?" said Plagg from inside his shirt.

Adrien glanced down, but Plagg was still safely tucked out of sight. "Shh! What if Marinette hears you?"

Plagg chuckled, pushing Adrien's over-shirt out just enough to be able to look up at him, "Pigtails is gone. She was smart enough to go into the locker room instead of just sitting on the stairs in the open like a lump."

Adrien looked around to see that Marinette was indeed gone. He looked back down at his kwami with a glare, "She surprised me. I'm fine now, thanks for asking."

Plagg rolled his eyes, "And yet, here you sit."

"Alright, alright," Adrien stood up, "I should probably just use the chance to find somewhere to transfo–" He cut himself off when he spotted a bright pink flash leak around the edges of the doors to the locker room. "Marinette!" he yelled and dashed across the courtyard, flinging open the doors and looking around wildly.

He was braced to fight, expecting an akuma or its minions at the very least, but instead all he found was Ladybug, staring at him in surprise. "Adrien? Are you alright?"

For the first time in his life, Adrien ignored Ladybug, moving around her to check between all the lockers, "Marinette? Marinette!"

"She's not here," said Ladybug. Her hand squeezed his shoulder and he turned to her with dread pooling in his stomach. _Why did I have to freeze like that? What if the akuma got her?_ Obviously sensing his concern, Ladybug smiled at him, "I got her out of here. She's fine, I promise."

Adrien peered past her, "Are you sure? I mean..."

Ladybug laughed and he snapped his gaze back to her as his face flushed with heat. "Yes Adrien, I'm sure. She's safe. Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do Mi– Ladybug! It's just..." he hesitated and she tipped her head slightly to one side in a silent question. Adrien sighed and dropped his gaze to the ground, "She's the other girl," he said in a small voice.

"I'm sorry, the other girl? What other girl?"

He swallowed, trying vainly to get the blood back out of his face, "The other girl that I lov-like. And she just told me that she's in love with me."

Silence met him and Adrien cringed internally. _Please don't let that mess things up with Ladybug... She knew I also was in love with someone else..._ Ladybug cleared her throat, but her voice still sounded slightly squeaky when she spoke, "She– she did?"

"Yeah. And I was so surprised that I just froze like an idiot and then I lost her because she–" Adrien cut himself off as he spotted a glowing purple basketball rolling towards them, "Uh, I don't think this is a good time for this conversation." Not stopping to think further, Adrien grabbed Ladybug's hand and took off at a sprint back out the door into the courtyard.

"Adrien what–!" They burst through the doors and skidded to a stop almost immediately. Scattered across the courtyard, dozens of purple basketballs swivelled and started rolling in their direction. Ladybug quickly unhooked her yoyo and spun it up into a shield while scanning for an escape. With her free hand, she reached out and pulled Adrien into her side, "Hold on Buttercup!" Adrien quickly wrapped his arms around her as she flung her yoyo high above them and they shot straight up and away from the menacing balls.

A few swings later and Ladybug was depositing Adrien on the roof of a nearby building behind a chimney. "Stay here," she ordered, "I'll come back to get you down after we've taken care of the akuma."

"Actually, I think I'll head down the fire escape," he smiled charmingly, "Just in case the akuma spotted us leaving, I'd rather not wait here for him to come and get me." Ladybug looked hesitant, so Adrien gave her hand a quick squeeze, "Why don't you stop by later tonight so we can finish our conversation? That way you'll know I'm fine too."

Ladybug squeezed his hand in return, "Alright. But be careful please."

"Of course!" Adrien smiled brightly.

With a last look, Ladybug threw her yo-yo and jumped back towards the school.

"Not bad," said Plagg as he zipped out of Adrien's pocket, "At least you can keep your head well enough to make sure she isn't going to come looking for you when you're not here."

"Yeah yeah," Adrien grumbled, "Marinette surprised me okay? Now let's go take care of that akuma!" Adrien punched the air, "Plagg, claws out!"


	16. Rebound

**So it's been a few more months than originally intended or promised... I'm sorry! I wrote about two thirds of this quite a while ago, but didn't finish it until now. I had a bit of trouble finding the best way to get through this part of the story and it wasn't until I decided to write from the akuma's point of view that things started to flow. It's different (I don't think I've ever read anything written from an akuma's view – unless it was Marinette or Adrien – though I'm sure there are stories out there), but I felt that only sticking to Adrien and Marinette kind of cheepens the depth that is available in the other characters. Don't worry, we will get a true Ladybug / Chat Noir conversation, though it won't be in the next chapter either. Too many other loose ends to clean up first. ;)**

 **As always, thanks for reading, liking, following and reviewing! Enjoy!**

* * *

Rebound smiled as he ducked and feinted to the right to avoid Ladybug's yo-yo. Seeing Ladybug flick her wrist to swing it around where he stood, he quickly dove to his left in a somersault instead, neatly avoiding her trap. "You don't really think you can trap me that easily do you?" he laughed, "Knowing where people are going is a pre-requisite for a good defense!"

Ladybug faced off in front of him with a determined look and a now spinning yo-yo, "You don't have to let Hawkmoth control you–"

Rebound interrupted her with another laugh, "Hawkmoth? He's not controlling me. He just gave me the power to escape from those who want to take advantage of me. Isn't that right Madelaine?" he allowed a sickly sweet tone to creep into his voice at the end as he held up a glowing purple basketball. "Playing with people's feelings isn't very nice now is it?" He grinned as he saw Ladybug hesitate. "Oh yes," he said, "This one used to be Madelaine. Of course, she felt _so bad_ for using me when she wasn't really over her old boyfriend, but she _didn't mean to_ now did you Madelaine?" He grinned evilly at Ladybug, "It's okay, she's going to make up for it by _helping_ me now."

Holding the ball high above his head, Rebound summoned the other balls he'd created, "Along with her friends of course," he said as dozens of balls bounced across the ground towards them. With perfect form, he shot the ball in a precise arc, allowing it to slip right through the basket above Ladybug's head without so much as touching the hoop, only a soft _whoosh_ betraying its passage. As Ladybug swung her arm up to deflect the ball with her yo-yo, Rebound spread his arms wide, " _Attack!_ "

A dozen different basketballs bounced off the ground and flew towards her. Rebound watched in amusement as she spun, dodged, and jumped to avoid them. A tickle at the back of his mind brought his attention up to one of the balls that he'd sent to the roof in order to watch for Chat Noir's arrival. It bounced slowly up and down in signal and Rebound narrowed his eyes. _One at a time is always easier,_ he thought, turning his gaze back to Ladybug.

Five more basketballs later, Rebound saw his chance. "Do tell me Ladybug, does your kitten know about _your_ other boy? What did you call him again?" he snapped his fingers, "Ah yes, Buttercup!"

"Chat Noir isn't mine!" snapped Ladybug.

"Ah, but Buttercup is. So does Chat Noir know? And what about the other side? Does Buttercup know you're actually in love with the cat? Though I don't see how he could avoid knowing about you and your pet by now..." Rebound flicked his hand, sending another volley of balls flying at her.

"There is nothing for _anyone_ to know!" Ladybug barely dodged another ball and Rebound smiled as he sent a quick follow up. "Nobody belongs to me! I saved a civilian," Ladybug took a moment to send him a glare, "In case you haven't noticed, it's what I do. And Chat Noir is my partner! Nothing else!"

A quick glance at his sentry balls showed him that Chat must be nearly there as they bounced insistently. "That would still make him yours wouldn't it? And there are so many ways that people can be partners..." he trailed off suggestively.

Ladybug's face had turned a deep red, though whether from anger or embarrassment, he couldn't tell and didn't care. As she turned to glare at him, Rebound took advantage of her distraction to send three more balls at her. She succeeding in blocking the first two, but the third one snuck past her guard, hitting her squarely in the back between her shoulder blades and knocking her to the ground. Quickly, Rebound sent in all of his free balls to pin her to the ground in a giant heap. He wasted no time in approaching to claim her earrings.

 _Careful_ , Hawkmoth's voice rang in his mind as a purple glow appeared in his peripheral vision, _she may not be as helpless as she seems._

"And that is why you keep losing Hawkmoth," retorted Rebound, "You hesitate. I don't."

He gave a dismissive wave to a couple of the balls so they would expose her head. _Yes, because not hesitating worked out so very well for you with that girl of yours._

Rebound growled as he reached towards her ears, "She should have said no if she wasn't interested in dating me! Do you want these earrings or not?"

There was no warning as Rebound went flying across the courtyard to slam into the far wall. _I warned you,_ snarled Hawkmoth.

"And maybe if you'd just kept quiet I would have had them already and then I'd only have to deal with one stupid hero instead of two!" Rebound spat as he struggled back to his feet. Across the courtyard, Chat Noir had appeared and was making short work of removing all the basketballs on Ladybug.

 _Fool! Did you really think it would be that easy to beat them?_ Hawkmoth's voice rose in anger.

"I've got this butterfly brat!" Rebound spotted a few people peeking through the crack of a classroom door and quickly pulled off some goldens beads from his necklace, throwing them at the students. They weren't fast enough to close the door, and five more purple basketballs bounced out of the classroom at his command as new beads regenerated around his neck.

"Chat Noir, _bouncing_ to the rescue once again!"

Rebound rolled his eyes as he turned to see Ladybug back on her feet with Chat Noir at her side, both spinning their weapons protectively. "Really? You _bounced_ to the rescue? Well I'm truly terrified now. How about I show you what bouncing really looks like?" With a quick gesture, he sent his newest balls soaring towards them. Unfortunately, between the two of them they had no trouble deflecting his attacks. "Looks like it's time for a new strategy," he muttered, quickly launching another volley before disappearing into the shadows to watch and wait.

* * *

Alya carefully peered around the corner to make sure the hallway was clear before dashing down it, half crouched and listening intently: the battle sounded like it was in the courtyard. Despite what her friends thought, she did have some sense of self-preservation. After all, how could see get her scoop if she was transformed into some sort of minion?

Ten minutes prior, Rebound had been bursting into classrooms all down their hallway, searching for someone, and Alya had just managed to avoid being transformed into a ball by diving behind Mme. Bustier's desk, and then snuck out of the room in the ensuing confusion. She'd hidden in a closet until all the balls had bounced away, then started following their route with her phone at the ready.

She was not disappointed when she reached the mezzanine. Below her, Ladybug was fighting off a collection of the glowing purple basketballs and Alya hastily hit the record button so she wouldn't miss a thing.

Ladybug's angry voice rang clearly through the courtyard, "Chat Noir isn't mine!"

Alya groaned softly and quickly twisted around, flipping her camera so her face was in the frame, "Sorry all! It's looks like Ladybug is still in denial, even after the events of Exposure. Normally I'd say she might just be hiding it to keep it a secret from Hawkmoth, but I'm seriously starting to wonder if she might just be too stubborn to admit being in love with Chat Noir." A ball hurtled past her head and Alya quickly flipped her camera back around, removing herself from the shot so she could keep a better eye on the battle. "Evidently this akuma knows how to rile her up anyways!"

Alya watched as Rebound managed to use Ladybug's anger to distract and pin her under a pile of balls. Standing quickly, she started searching for something she could throw at the akuma when a loud SMACK brought her head back around with a jerk.

Rebound had been thrown across the room and Chat was making short work of the basketballs piled on top of Ladybug. Alya couldn't help but let out a cheer. "And the tide is turning! This'll be a short fight now!"

A flurry of basketballs converged on Ladybug and Chat Noir, filling the frame with purple streaks and obscuring the battle. Alya wrinkled her nose in annoyance and started sidestepping to a new location, hoping to get a better angle. A moment later, the air cleared – the heroes having taken out all the balls – but despite their obvious readiness to take on the akuma, he was nowhere to be seen.

Surprised, Alya moved to the rail and leaned over, trying to see where he might have gone, but her search came up just as empty as Ladybug and Chat Noir's.

Chat straightened out of his fighter's stance, "Well then." He turned to Ladybug with his baton draped across his shoulders, "What's the plan Bugine–" he flushed slightly and cleared his throat, "Ah, mila– Ladybug, yes Ladybug." His face was distinctly red. Alya giggled to herself.

Ladybug straightened up, scanning the courtyard, "I think it's time to stop waiting on him and start making him wait on us." She tossed her yo-yo high into the air, "Lucky Charm!"

Alya watched as the burst of magic spread out from the yo-yo, carefully tracking with her phone to catch the ladybug patterned ball of yarn that fell into Ladybug's waiting hands. She zoomed in on Ladybug's face as she spun in a neat circle, clearing searching for clues. "Well I guess we're not going to be waiting here for his return," she finally said before tying the yarn around herself and throwing her yo-yo to fly out of the school, Chat Noir close behind.

Alya quickly sprang to her feet, dashed down the nearest stairs and through the front doors at a sprint. A glimpse of red and black was enough to point her in the right direction and she set off in pursuit.

* * *

 _You know you can distract Ladybug. Chat Noir will be just as easy to fluster. Use it to your advantage!_

Rebound rolled his eyes in response to the voice in his head, "Yes Hawkmoth, you've only been repeating that every few minutes or so. I get the plan. Now _shut up!" A wave of vertigo passed over him and Rebound fell to his knees._

 _Let's not forget who needs whom now. I can always find another akuma, said Hawkmoth._

"Fine!" Rebound gasped, "Fine. I'm working on it."

Shaking himself, Rebound straightened back up and absently reached to grab a few beads on his necklace. The necklace flashed, quickly regenerating itself again as he pulled them away. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned the store fronts, looking for more people to claim. A bell jangled and he spun, throwing the beads and successfully capturing two more people.

The sound of rapid bouncing drew his attention to the right and Rebound jumped up onto the roof of the nearest store so he could better see and follow his balls. A few short minutes later and he found himself staring down at Ladybug and Chat Noir, who seemed to be tossing a small ball back and forth.

 _It's a trap,_ Hawkmoth sent.

Rebound laughed, "Of course it's a trap. But you can't execute a trap that's incomplete!" He scooped up the nearest ball, and with a hard chest pass drove it between the heroes, sending them diving out of the intersection as more balls rained down close behind.

"Did you really think I'd just come sauntering along and walk into your little web Ladybug?" he called out, "Don't you know that ladybugs can't spin webs? I think you're getting mixed up about your role here bug." Rebound jumped across to another building so he could get a better view of Ladybug and Chat Noir as they dodged his balls, "How about I remind you? As a Ladybug, you hang out, look pretty and make people fawn over you. Just like you do with your pet and your flower." He paused for a moment and blinked in surprise, "Oh! Is that why you call him Buttercup? Because he's the flower that has captured your heart? Or at least your attention." Rebound tsked and shook his head, "Poor cat doesn't stand a chance does he?"

It was so very satisfying to watch as Ladybug turned progressively redder and her movements became somewhat less coordinated. It was distinctly less satisfying to see Chat Noir pick up the slack without hesitation. Rebound growled slightly in the back of his throat and redirected more of his balls to focus their attack on Ladybug so he could jump down and confront Chat Noir himself, "So did she get around to telling you that her love for you is irrelevant while I was gone?"

Chat Noir stumbled slightly and shot a look over his shoulder to his partner. Rebound grinned to himself and threw a ball at his head, but Chat ducked underneath, "No? That's a shame. Here I thought she'd have the decency to confess that she's dating another boy. He looked familiar..." He dodged Chat's baton and tried to sweep his legs in return, but Chat jumped out of the way.

"We are partners. Anything else is none of your business," shot Chat as he abruptly extended his baton. Rebound doubled over gasping as it made contact with his solar plexus. Despite his inability to breath, he quickly dropped and rolled to the side, sending a couple of balls around from behind to trip up the annoying cat.

"Given up – on your – puns – already?" Rebound struggled to sound mocking, but he was fairly certain the gasping made it significantly less effective than he wanted, "Have I – touched – a nerve?"

Chat Noir charged towards him with a growl and Rebound hastily jumped to the side. He had barely landed when a whirring noise alerted him that Ladybug had managed to get the upper hand against his balls and he was forced to duck again to avoid becoming entangled in her string. Rebound resummoned his balls, forming a cocoon to protect himself while he regained his breath, taking advantage of the brief respite to pull a few more beads off his necklace.

"So now you're going to _hog the balls_ are you? Didn't you ever learn how to share? Or are you one of those players who doesn't know how to _pass_?" jeered Chat Noir.

With an eye roll, Rebound sent his balls exploding outwards, smiling as Ladybug and Chat Noir were forced to retreat again, "That was weak. Now you're just trying too hard. Overcompensating perhaps?" He directed his balls to separate the heroes, driving them further apart, then backed away so he could keep an eye on both at the same time. "Come now Ladybug, don't you think Chat Noir deserves the truth about Buttercup?" Rebound frowned when she failed to react to his barb. He turned back towards Chat, "Ah well. You're really better off without her Chat Noir. She'd rather be with someone that she's not truly in love with than you. That really says something about her now doesn't it?"

Chat glared at him, "Hey now, just because your girl was using you while she actually loved someone else doesn't mean they're all like that!"

Rebound grinned and threw a bead at Chat's chest while simultaneously renewing the attack of balls in order to distract him, unfortunately it missed when Chat took a swing at one of the balls with his baton. "Oh but I saw it myself," he winked, "All cuddled up to him as she swung him to safety! And I've remembered why he looked so familiar too. That's Buttercup's face right there on that billboard," he gestured at the large perfume ad behind Chat, "Guess you're just not the right kind of famous for that tramp."

Chat growled and crouched, clearly preparing to pounce, but he wasn't quite able to stop himself from glancing back over his shoulder at the billboard. Rebound narrowed his eyes and grinned toothily, hastily throwing another bead at the back of Chat's head.

A high pitched ping rang out as Ladybug's yo-yo knocked the bead off course. Rebound scowled and turned to see he'd lost track of Ladybug. Hastily backing up further to reorient himself and get them both back in his sights, Rebound tripped. His arms flailed and his eyes shot down to see a web of red and black yarn. His hands slipped between the strands and he twisted, inadvertently tangling his legs as well.

"Chat! The necklace!"

Rebound jerked his head up just in time to see a black blur and feel a tug at his neck as Chat Noir shot past, simultaneously grabbing and cataclysming his necklace, then everything went black.


End file.
